The Rise and Fall of Captain Garlock
by 1 over 0
Summary: Once upon a time there was a boy named Simon. Then, later, there was a man known as Captain Garlock. This is the story of what happened in-between. AU fic based on the prologue and various fan-theories. Now on hiatus indefinitely; i.e. dead.
1. Kamina's Death

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gurren Lagann. Although the events contained herein stem from my own imagination, Gurren Lagann and the entirety of the Gurren Lagann universe is the property of Gainax**

**And, as a side note, this fic is now dead.**

**I didn't want to kill this fic. When I set out to create it, I swore I'd go through with it, to make myself a better writer if nothing else. So it pains me to admit that it's now dead.  
**

**Part of it is because I've achieved my base goal: to become a better writer. There are large sections of writing in here that I look back on fondly, but there are others that make me facepalm. And on top of that, I grew away from it; my interests have drifted elsewhere, both in subject matter and thematic development.  
**

**What made me realize this is the fiasco that was the last two chapters, and to a certain extent the third last one as well. I've realized that I no longer feel motivated to write this. Sure, there's the odd burning urge, but by and large I've lost my passion. It was reflected in the writing, and I realized I was pushing myself to write something I didn't want to.  
**

**So I stopped. And now I'm admitting; I'm done.  
**

**Some day, I'll come back to this. Some day, I'll be able to reread all that I have written, condense it, break it apart, and rewrite it better than before. But for now, nothing new will be coming out of this. It'll still be here, but fair warning to all who read: it has no end, for now.  
**

**Thank you for all the reviews, encouragement, and honest critique (of the last, there was not enough). And now I say my farewells.  
**

* * *

A massive explosion ripped through space. The great Spiral Power-fuelled fireball expanded rapidly, destroying the ships in its path, the Spiral battleships it consumed only fuelling the ever-expanding radius of destruction as massive, supercosmic forces twisted around each other inside its nucleus. The Spiral-powered weapon of mass destruction continued expanding until it covered the equivalent of around a quarter of the size of the galaxy before it finally petered out and dissipated, but the shockwaves of Spiral force continued outward, overloading the generators of Spiral battleships and causing them to self-destruct. Waves of destruction ripped out across the inky black veil of space.

It wasn't nearly sufficient to even slightly diminish the enemy force.

And now, the crew of the Spiral dreadnought that had fired the great Spiral fireball had to deal with the backlash of their own attack.

"Screening shield! Class 8!"

"Mirror armour plating's detaching!"

"Block 3-8-6-5's been hit!"

"Damage?"

Captain Garlock walked on to the bridge, his trophies of past battles clinking as they hung from his belt. No, it was more accurate to say that he strolled on to the bridge, without a care. Even amidst the chaos of battle, Captain Garlock, formerly Simon the Digger, was a calm spot in the centre of the storm. His very presence relaxed his crew, even as they fought to live another day.

"Minimal," replied the officer that had reported the damage, "but our thruster flame's visible now!"

"Stand fast, men," said Captain Garlock. "Let's teach them a little something. Teach them _exactly _who they're facing."

"Enemy fleet size is off the charts!" reported another officer.

"So..." mused Garlock. "All the lights in the heavens are our enemies now, huh...? Yeah. But they're worthy opponents. I'll use the fabric of space-time to _wring them out of existence!_"

First Lieutenant Boota, Garlock's right-hand man, began snapping out orders. "Alright! Prepare the Maelstrom Cannon! Target the Great Dimensional Waterfall!"

Captain Garlock grinned that crazy grin he got whenever a great battle was at hand.

"Gurren Lagann! Spin on! JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?"

* * *

Kamina's Death

* * *

"...I think you should do it, Simon," said Kamina.

"Wha?" exclaimed Simon, jumping up in the seat of the red, face-shaped robot.

"You're the one who dug this thing up. That means it belongs to you."

"But I...!"

"You think the Great Kamina could steal from his own brother? What kind of a person do you think you're dealing with?"

"What?" asked Yoko incredulously.

"But I can't do this!" whined Simon.

"You dumbass! Kick logic out and do the impossible! Remember that. That's the way Team Gurren rolls!"

"But I..."

The tunnel shook. The giant face-shaped robot above them, also known as a Gunman, was demolishing Jiha Village with its enormous metal bat.

"Just do it!" Kamina told Simon. "Go on! I know you can do it, buddy!"

Simon let out a whimper. "But I don't...!"

"Listen, Simon. Don't believe in yourself."

"Huh?"

"Believe in me! Believe in the Kamina who believes in you!"

"What's that mean?" Yoko asked confusedly.

Simon's gaze went from side to side, and then his face set. "All right...I'll try!" he said, pulling down his digger's goggles.

Simon's hands clutched the controls as he concentrated. The display seemed to glow in response, pulsating with a strange light. Simon looked on in awe, seeing spirals before his eyes. A great sense of destiny overwhelmed him, and he felt his own heart beating in time with the pulse of the display. At that very moment, only he and the machine existed, and he could feel it readying itself for him Cautiously, tentatively, he gripped the controls, squeezing them, and moved them forwards...

And nothing happened.

"Huh? It's not working?" Simon moved the controls back and forth in his confusion.

"What the...? Let me have a look at it," said Kamina. He looked over the display, the controls, and the seat, then got out of the mech. He tilted his head and gave the mecha a calculating stare...and then gave it a hard kick.

"Hey! That's not going to help!" exclaimed Yoko.

"It's a machine! It's not like it cares!"

"Look, idiot, machines are complex! Giving it a boot to the head won't fix anything, if anything it'll make things worse! In fact, hitting something is the least effective way to try and fix it!"

"Well, what the hell do we do now, then?"

The ground shook again. Simon cowered in his seat, his fear of earthquakes returning. Muffled screams floated down the tunnel, perking up the ears of all three.

Kamina snorted, gave the mecha another firm kick, and started scrambling back up the tunnel.

"Where are you going?" asked Yoko.

"Where else, of course? I'm going to save Jiha Village! If that stupid face-machine won't help, then I'll have to do it myself!"

"But you can't take on a Gunman with a katana! Hey, wait!"

Yoko crawled up the tunnel after Kamina. Simon sat in the mecha for a second, wondering what was wrong with it, before following Kamina and Yoko up the tunnel.

* * *

Kamina emerged from the darkness into Jiha Village's central chamber. Bright daylight streamed down from the newly made hole in the ceiling, nearly blinding the cavern dwellers. Kamina was unfazed however, and simply whipped out his trusty orange v-shaped shades and pushed them onto his nose. He pulled his katana from its sheath with a satisfying _shing_.

"All right, you giant metal face! Prepare to meet the wrath of Lord Kamina, the great and mighty protector of Jiha Village! As the shepherd watches over his flock, so do I watch over Jiha village, despite not knowing what either a shepherd or a flock is! All I know is that it's an old saying, and old sayings always sound cool! Regardless, the point is that YOU'RE ABOUT TO GET YOUR ASS KICKED!"

The aforementioned giant face paused in its rampage and turned to look down on the puny human.

"What? You again?" it rumbled. "They're Gunmen, not giant faces! And I doubt you could even _scratch_ my Gunman with that puny toothpick of yours!"

"Oh yeah? TRY ME!"

The Gunman laughed, a deep, rumbling _hurhurhur._ It swung around its giant metal bat and began swinging it down towards Kamina. Kamina merely widened his stance, set his shoulders, and brought his katana up into a blocking position.

_PAKAAANG! _The giant bat was deflected and landed to Kamina's left. Yoko cocked her rifle behind him.

"You idiot!" she yelled. "You could've gotten killed!"

"A true man never backs down from a challenge!"

Yoko sighed.

The Gunman, meanwhile, had recovered. "Oh? It's the girl with the rifle again!"

"Yeah, no shit," muttered Yoko, aiming her rifle at the Gunman's face.

"Fwahahahaha!" guffawed the Gunman. "Do you actually think you can use that rifle against me? It never worked before, so why would it work now?"

Yoko simply closed one eye, aimed down the sight, and squeezed the trigger rapidly.

The Gunman got a full clip in the face. It reeled backward, landing on its back.

Yoko grabbed Kamina's hand. "Now's our chance!" she shouted, breaking into a run and pulling Kamina along with her.

Kamina was unimpressed. "To do what? Run?"

Yoko counted to ten. Slowly.

"No, you idiot," she exhaled. "We can't harm it directly. If I can get its power conduits, though, it'll shut down and/or explode. I'm personally hoping for shutting down myself."

Kamina rubbed his chin. "Oh, I see. So, we have to hit its weak point."

"That's oversimplifying it a bit, but yes."

Kamina grinned maniacally. "All right, then. I'll distract it, and you shoot down its power thingies."

Yoko was so shocked that she stopped running. She turned to face Kamina, and palmed her face.

"Are you insane?" she asked incredulously. "No, forget it, you _are_ insane. _Nobody_ deliberately draws the attention of a Gunman. You hear me? Back at Littner, we fought off the Gunmen using carefully planned traps and ambushes. You can't take on a Gunman directly. You just can't!"

Kamina just continued grinning. "That's why you'll be shooting it in the back!" he said, and sprinted off in the opposite direction.

Yoko said some very-unladylike things. But the Gunman was already getting back on its feet, and Kamina was already too far away to stop, if it was possible to stop the man anyways. Still cursing, she started looking for a way to gain enough height to hit the power conduits on the Gunman's back.

Simon emerged from the tunnel just in time to see Kamina running around like a lunatic, waving his sword and yelling insults at the giant robot face. Granted, this wasn't much different from normal except for the robotic face, but that robotic face was a pretty huge difference.

"Bro!" yelled Simon. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, glad you could make it, Simon!" Kamina yelled back. "I'm distracting the giant face so that what's-her-face with the nice body can shoot it in its weak point!"

On the other side of the cavern, halfway up the wall, Yoko grimly considered sending a bullet up Kamina's ass.

"But Bro! Should you really be saying that where the robot can hear you?"

"Nah, it's okay," said Kamina. "His ears're still ringing from Yoko's magic stick. I think he called it a 'rifle'."

Yoko rolled her eyes and sighted down the scope.

She had a bead on one of the power conduits, and she was preparing for the shot, when she saw out of the corner of her eye that the metal bat was coming down again. Kamina was looking the other way at Simon, and wasn't paying attention.

"Damn!" Yoko swore, her eyes widening. She swung her rifle around to aim at the Gunman's weapon, and squeezed the trigger.

And for the first time in a long while, Yoko Littner missed.

The humongous metal bat crashed through one of the walkways arching over the cavern. Kamina heard it and looked up just in time to see the bat coming down on top of him. His mouth formed a silent "O" but he never got the time to say anything. The bat smashed down, closely followed by a large pile of rubble from the walkway.

"BRO!" screamed Simon.

"Wahahaha! I finally got rid of that pesky bug! Now I can finish destroying the rest of these filthy humans!" The Gunman turned to face Simon. "I think I'll start with you, little boy! Heheh, look at you, you're crying over your precious brother! Heheheh!"

_PAKAAANG! _The mecha's right arm went limp. "What the hell?" it exclaimed.

_PAKAAANG! _The left arm went limp. The metal bat dropped to the floor with an almighty crash.

_PAKAAANG! _The legs folded underneath it, and the Gunman crashed to the floor.

Yoko wiped her brow, slung her rifle over her shoulder, and started descending back down the cavern wall. She looked around anxiously for Simon, worried about how he would take Kamina's death.

As soon as the Gunman was disabled, Simon had run over to the massive pile of rubble that covered Kamina's likely mutilated corpse. As Yoko watched, he dug frantically with his bare hands through the pile of rock.

"Kamina! Kamina, hang on!" Simon yelled. "Kamina, can you hear me? I'll dig you out of there! I'll dig until my hands bleed! I know, I'll use my drill! I think I left it with that face I found! Just wait Kamina, I'll save you, and you'll be okay, and you'll say it doesn't hurt when it really does like when you broke your ribs trying to reach the surface! Just wait!"

Simon turned around to run back to the mecha, and ran straight into Yoko. She put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Simon, Kamina's dead," she intoned softly. "Even if you dug him out, you probably wouldn't want to see what's left. I'm sorry, but...it's true."

Simon just stared at her blankly as the truth seeped in. Then he tore her hands off his shoulders and ran back down the tunnel.

Yoko watched after him as he ran. She would feel sorry for him, but...this was war. These things happened. He would either come to accept in time, or he would go insane with grief. She sincerely hoped for the former.

Rolling her shoulders, she mentally prepared herself to deal with the Gunman's Beastman pilot.

* * *

Simon sat in the seat of the miniature Gunman he had found, crying and with the occasional anguished sob escaping his lips. His hands rested limply on the controls, and he whimpered to himself.

"Why wouldn't you work...if you'd worked, Bro wouldn't be dead...! Do you hate me? Is that it? You stupid, stinking, worthless piece of CRAP!"

He jerked the controls around violently, half hoping they'd break. He banged on the display, trying to break it but to no avail, all the while crying and sobbing.

Finally, he gave up and hung his head, still crying. It was no use. Kamina was dead, buried under a pile of rubble just as his parents had been, and it was all his fault for distracting him. No, it was the damn mecha's fault for not helping destroy the Gunman! It wasn't Simon's fault at all!

Simon sat there for a long time, crying silently. Then he opened his eyes slightly. They widened at what he saw.

The miniature drill hanging around his neck was _glowing._

A quick glance at the display confirmed that it, too, was glowing. Not only that, it was glowing _in rhythm_ with the tiny golden drill.

_No,_ he thought to himself. _No, no, no, no, no. It can't be, it's so freaking obvious, why wouldn't I have noticed it before, no it can't be..._

Fingers trembling, he grasped his drill necklace, popped it off the string, inserted it in the slot on the display, and turned.

The mecha roared to life. Its mouth opened as the display on the interior filled with green in a spiral pattern. Arms and legs extended, and the mecha stood proudly in the tunnel.

Simon just sat back in the seat and laughed his ass off as bitter tears ran down his cheeks.


	2. Jiha Village: Round 2

Jiha Village was in ruins. Massive piles of rubble were everywhere. None of the walkways that had previously spanned the cavern were still intact. People wandered around the battlefield with blank stares on their faces. Some knelt on the ground, clutching dead or dying loved ones. Some dug through the rubble trying to find their loved ones. The total dead was unknown. Several tunnels had collapsed further into the complex, and it was unknown how many were trapped behind them without air.

The Gunman still lay in the centre of the cavern. It was impossible to move, and it was useless with its power conduits broken. The Beastman pilot that had been inside it was locked up in one of the cell areas that Kamina had called his "other home".

Kamina was dead now.

Every person stopped at some point and gazed at the long metal bat that presumably rested on top of Kamina's smashed body. Although they had all called him an idiot and a fool, in their hearts they, too, had believed that he was invincible. Too stubborn to die. It was an unchangeable fact, however. Kamina was dead. Kamina was gone forever.

Yoko Littner looked about this scene of devastation. It saddened her. Something in her felt that it was her fault for not taking down the Gunman while they were still on the surface, but it was quickly silenced by the practical mindset she had developed over years of fighting Gunmen. She looked up to the sky that shined down through the hole in the ceiling. This village was no longer safe. The survivors would have to move, probably to Littner.

As if to prove her point, two Gunmen poked their heads over the edge. Yoko swore and cocked her rifle, pointing it up at the two massive faces looming over the edge.

"Hey, it's that girl with the rifle! I knew we'd find her eventually!" said one of the Gunmen excitedly.

"But wait, look! It's Pig-Face's Gunman! And the power conduits are broken!" said the other.

"Hey, you're right! I can't contact him at all! Hey, maybe that human girl with the gun can tell us! HEY HUMAN GIRLIE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO PIG FACE?"

"Retard!" said the other Gunman, slapping the first over the head. "Obviously the girl disabled him!"

"So then what happened to Piggie?"

"Well, the way humans are, they probably tortured him to death."

"Eek! Don't frighten me like that!" whined the first Gunman.

"It's true! They tortured Pig-face and killed him! Now we have to get revenge!"

"Hey, yeah, you're right! Hey, I bet she can't take care of two Gunmen at once!"

Yoko swept her rifle between the two Gunmen. "Stay back," she yelled, "or I'll shoot!"

"Eek, she's gonna shoot!" whined the first Gunman. "We can't take this one, brother! Come on, let's just say we lost her and go back to HQ!"

"You idiot! She couldn't scratch us with that peashooter! Now get down there!"

The second Gunman slapped the first Gunman over the head again, but this time he put a little more force into it. The first Gunman teetered on the edge of the chasm, then fell down into the village.

Yoko barely made it into a tunnel before the Gunman impacted. A wave of rock and dirt flew everywhere as the Gunman hit the ground with a massive crash. Yoko looked around for residents. They all seemed to have fled deeper into the complex. She whipped out the orange shades she used to protect her eyes while shooting and loaded some bullets into her rifle. This was going to be a tough one, she thought. Nevertheless, she had a duty to protect the residents of Jiha village against the Gunmen she had unwittingly led there. She finished loading her rifle, worked the bolt, and listened to the satisfying _vreeee_ it made as it charged just as the second Gunman leaped down from the surface into the cavern.

* * *

Jiha Village, Round 2

* * *

Deeper underground, Simon felt the tremors as the two Gunmen fell into Jiha village.

The ground and walls shook as if in the throes of a massive earthquake. Bits of earth and sediment shook off of the walls around him. Simon stopped crying or laughing - he couldn't tell which he was doing at the moment - and looked upwards with a dazed expression. Somewhere, deep inside, he felt afraid of the walls collapsing in on him. But all of a sudden it didn't seem to matter anymore.

A second tremor hit. The mecha underneath him pitched and fell to the floor with a clang. Simon fell out and hit his head on the floor. Rubbing his head, he continued staring at the ceiling.

Slowly his mind began making connections. The earthquakes. His parents. Gunmen. Kamina. He sat up, rubbing his head, as those four thoughts circled around his mind. They twisted and turned, spiralling around each other, until everything met at a point.

And, finally, he reached a decision.

Simon grasped the edge of the cockpit and heaved. The mini-Gunman rose slowly, steadily, and came upright. Another tremor hit and threatened to knock it over again. Wasting no time, Simon jumped into the cockpit and gripped the controls. The key was still in the slot, and as soon as his hands touched the controls, the gauge filled with energy. Simon gritted his teeth and spoke to the machine:

"All right. You may not like me. I sure as hell hate you. But you'e under MY control, you damned piece of machinery, and regardless of what you want, I will avenge my Bro! Now get me the hell out of here as fast as you possibly can!

The machine responded to his burst of willpower with a surge of power. It roared to life, the mouth opening to let out a howl. On the back, the booster flared to life, and Simon rocketed up the tunnel to get his revenge, screaming his battle cry all the way.

* * *

Yoko dodged and weaved through cover as the two Gunmen struggled around each other to hit her. The cavern really wasn't big enough for three Gunmen, despite only two being able to move, and the two new ones hit each other more than they hit anything else. Yoko used this to her advantage and led the two into situations where they would bump into each other, all the while looking for weak spots in their armour. Without a distraction, she couldn't climb up the wall to get a shot at the power conduits on the back without getting hit.

The two Gunmen bickered as they tried to squash Yoko and only managed to hit themselves. It was quite comical, really, like two schoolchildren trying to kill a cockroach.

The first one, who seemed to be the younger of the two, caught a fist to the face as the other one, a round, frog-like Gunman, swung wildly at Yoko.

"Owwww! Hey!" he yelled, stumbling back. "Watcha do that for?"

"Doofus!" the other Gunman yelled back. "I was aiming for the girl! But you can take it as punishment for not doing anything anyway! C'mon, stomp on her already!"

The first Gunman obliged stomping around randomly. One of his stomps landed on the second Gunman's foot.

"Owowowow! Dammit, can't you be more careful!"

"Sorry, bro, but she's so fast!"

"Fast? She's a human on foot, for goodness' sake! You're a giant robot! Speed shouldn't be an issue!"

Yoko just kept running circles around them.

She was, however, confused by the strange buzzing in her ears. With each passing second it grew louder, and it seemed to be coming from one of the tunnels. It continued to grow louder and louder, until it became a muted roar, then a distant one, then finally a very loud one overlaid with an ear-splitting scream.

Yoko turned just in time to see Simon fly out of the tunnel in the tiny Gunman from earlier.

Still screaming at the top of his lungs, Simon barrelled into the younger of the two Gunmen. The rectangular Gunman fell backwards, landing on top of his brother. The two slammed into the side of the cavern, showering rocks over the entire cavern.

Simon's Gunman spun in the air before landing on its feet in front of Yoko.

"Simon?" asked Yoko incredulously. "What...how did you get that working?"

"Doesn't matter! I'm going to use this mini-Gunman to avenge Bro! Get in the robot, or get out of here, because these two are mine!"

The two Gunmen, meanwhile, had untangled themselves and gotten back to their feet. The younger of the two pointed at Simon.

"Hey look, bro! It's a new human weapon!" he exclaimed. "It's like some sort of mini-Gunman!"

The elder brother looked at Simon. "Hey, you're right! It's some sort of Gunman knockoff! Are they seriously going to fight us with that puny thing?"

The two guffawed loudly.

"I'll show you!" growled Simon. Responding to his wishes, the mini Gunman started running forward.

"Oh, look, it's coming to kick our shins," said the elder brother. "Well, I'll show them how a real Gunman operates!"

The Gunman extended a foot, as if to step on Simon. Simon quickly dodged out of the way.

"Hah! FAKED!" yelled the other Gunman, which had moved itself to the left. It swung its foot out, kicking the mini Gunman.

Simon saw the foot coming, but it was too late to dodge. With all his heart, he wished for some sort of protection. Responding to his thoughts, some sort of canopy extended from the sides of the cockpit and enveloped Yoko and Simon. The foot hit and the mini Gunman went flying. Simon clutched the controls for dear life as Yoko screamed and tumbled around the cockpit. The Gunman flew until it hit the cavern wall, then fell to the floor with a clang.

When they landed, Simon's face was buried in Yoko's bosom. "Oops, sorry," she apologized, and extracted him from her considerable cleavage. She moved back behind him again.

The canopy became transparent, and they could see another foot coming down on top of them.

Simon put up the mini Gunman's hands as if to catch it. The foot landed heavily, smashing them into the dirt. Simon flinched, and the mini Gunman flinched too, as it desperately tried to keep the foot from smashing them further into the dirt. He could hear the joins creaking as the Gunman above shifted more and more of its weight on to them.

"Yeah! Go big brother! Squash those bugs!" he heard the younger of the two shout. But it didn't make it to Simon's mind. The old fear of earthquakes, the feeling of earth pressing down on him, had come back with a vengeance. His breathing became laboured as he felt the old panic welling up inside of him. His mind flashed to memories of his parents, crushed under a tonne of rocks. Then it flashed to the time when he and Kamina were trapped with the rest of Team Gurren during an attempt to break through to the surface. Simon had calmed thanks to Kamina's encouragement, and had dug through to safety.

_If only I had a drill,_ he thought to himself. _I could dig out of here. I'd dig down, and be safe. Safe in the darkness. Away from these Gunmen and their pilots and the fighting. I want to run away I want to run away I want to run away I want..._

Wait. Kamina. Kamina was dead. Kamina wasn't there anymore. These bastards killed Kamina, and Kamina could no longer support him.

Kamina had to be avenged. And only Simon could do it.

"Kamina...I will avenge you. Bro!" Simon shouted, the will to live rising inside of him. The gauge in front of him filled with energy. Simon roared, and summoned his drill. It grew from the front of the mecha, spiralling out and starting to spin. It was a magnificent drill, and it tore straight through the Gunman's foot as the boosters flared and the mecha shot up, completely demolishing the leg and tearing the main body in half.

"No! Big brother!" shouted the other Gunman. "You bastards! You'll pay for this!" It charged toward the mini Gunman, which floated in the air.

Inside the cockpit Simon smiled. Yoko saw his smile, and inside, she cringed. It wasn't a pleasant smile. It wasn't even the kind of fake smile you made when Leeron hit on you and you were trying to politely tell him you weren't interested. No, it was a broken smile. The smile of a man who had lost all he held dear in the world. The smile of a man who was going to make the world pay.

Two more drills sprouted out of the arms of the mini Gunman. With a flourish, Simon crossed them, then pointed them both at the other Gunman.

"Die. Beastman bastard."

The mini Gunman rocketed forward. It tore straight through the cockpit of the Gunman as a scream of pain issued forth from the Gunman's speakers. The miniature Gunman rebounded off of the far wall and came back for another pass, this time at an angle that took it towards the ground. It hit the ground, skidded and came to a stop as the Gunman behind it blew up in blossom of fire and hot gas.

The canopy retracted, and Simon jumped out. He surveyed the results of his handiwork with a manic grin.

"That'll teach you, you Gunman bastard!" he shouted, pumping his fist in the air and cackling maniacally.

Yoko just looked on in horror.

* * *

Nobody came out to wave as they left. Jiha Village was nothing but a burnt-out shell now. The people just watched from the shadows with blank looks as Yoko and Simon climbed into the mini Gunman. Simon found that the boosters apparently wouldn't work anymore, but springs on the mecha's feet could propel him up a considerable distance. He used these to jump from ledge to ledge and out the cavern ceiling.

"Which way is Littner, Yoko?"

"Oh, uh...that way." She pointed. "We'll go to Littner and get help to evacuate Jiha. That's the plan, right?"

Simon just grunted and started running the mecha in the direction that Yoko pointed.

Yoko watched behind her as Jiha Village faded into the distance, occasionally giving Simon directions on how to get to Littner. War changed people, she reminded herself. It was none of her fault, she told herself. But she couldn't get the image of Simon's expression out of her mind.

_More demon than man_, she thought


	3. Forced Combining!

Littner Village didn't really exist anymore. When Yoko was a child, poison gas had leaked out when they had breached some sort of storage facility underneath the village. The gas had killed over half of the population before the villagers had broken through to the surface. After the gas dissipated, the villagers had gone back to explore the chamber they had discovered. Within the chamber had been a weapons cache, put there long ago by unknown forces. Since the villagers had no knowledge of whether another poison gas attack might occur, they had taken all of the weapons and moved up to the surface. What they built there would be more accurately described as Littner Outpost, and every day they fought off Gunmen that came to wipe them off the surface of the planet.

As Yoko and Simon approached Littner, they noticed that the daily battle had already begun.

"Hey, the Gunmen are here!" Yoko noted.

Simon grinned maniacally and spurred his mecha forward.

* * *

Forced Combining!

* * *

Littner was built at the end of a great ravine. It was a great strategic point for fighting Gunmen, as only one could come through at a time. As they entered the ravine the residents of Littner peppered them with bullets from automatic machine guns. This was mostly a harrying technique, however, since Gunmen are armoured with bullet-resistant metal. Littner's main defence came from explosives traps rigged along the walls and floor of the ravine. As Gunmen walked down the ravine, the explosives would trigger and simultaneously blow the legs off while crushing them with rocks from above. If that failed, they resorted to Leeron's Super Special Secret Weapon . Thankfully that had never been necessary, since the current betting pool had 80:20 odds on it blowing up or failing in some other spectacular way.

Today, however, the residents of Littner seemed to be having trouble. The explosives had gone off at the wrong time, and the three Gunmen were trying to climb over the pile of rubble while the villagers harried them with machine guns and grenades.

"Simon!" shouted Yoko over the wind rushing past. "They're in trouble! Let's help them!"

"You don't have to tell me twice! I'd kill those Beastmen if they were running away anyways!"

Yoko was both shocked and amazed at the transition Simon had gone through. What was once a shy, indecisive boy was now intent on killing every single Beastman on the planet. It was both amazing and saddening.

But now was not the time to think about it. She would save Simon from himself later. For now, she had to save her adopted family.

From his position atop the rubble mountain, Dayakka Littner noticed the cloud of dust advancing from behind the Gunmen.

"We've got another Gunman, coming in fast!" he shouted. "I can't see it though. Has anybody got a scope or some binoculars?"

Leeron appeared out of nowhere beside him and handed him some binoculars. "Hey hun," he drawled. "You called?"

Dayakka jumped at Leeron's voice before taking the proffered binoculars. The man had this strange, creepy ability to sneak up on you, and no sense of personal space. Leeron's rather "loud" fashion sense didn't help any.

There was a grinding noise as the leg of one of the Gunmen fell apart and the Gunman toppled down the mountain. Dayakka cheered for his men before turning to look down the binoculars.

The Gunman running towards them was smaller than any he had ever seen. It was less than an eighth the size of a normal Gunman, and was painted in bright reds and blues. It was running at an incredible speed, tiny arms and legs pumping as it sped towards Littner. But what surprised Dayakka most was the person riding in it.

"Hey guys! It's Yoko! Yoko's back with some kid, and they're riding some sort of miniature Gunman!"

The rebels cheered and renewed the fight. A lucky grenade blew a hole in the cockpit of one of the two remaining Gunmen, killing the pilot. One Gunman was left standing.

Simon grit his teeth as the second Gunman fell and tried to tell himself that it was okay for some of them to die at others' hands. After all, there were probably hundreds of Gunmen. He focused on the running motion of the mecha, keeping it from falling over as it sprinted towards Littner.

Dayakka, on the other hand, was panicking. The Gunman was almost to the top of the rubble mountain, and nothing seemed to be able to stop it. Simon and Yoko weren't nearly close enough yet, and unless he gave the order to retreat his men would die.

"Fall back!" he yelled. "Keep slowing it down, but don't put yourself in danger!" Dayakka rolled back down the other side of the mountain as the Gunman tried to swipe at him. He rolled back to his feet and kept blasting away with his machine gun. "C'mon, slow it down so Yoko can get here in time!"

The fighters rallied around Dayakka, shooting at the Gunman that had made it to the top. It was bright red with an angry face, set into the rictus of a feral grin that looked like it wished to eat you whole. The arms were bright yellow, ending in clawed hands. It opened its mouth and roared, shaking small rocks and sediment off of the walls of the ravine. Reaching up, it grasped the two handles protruding over the shoulders. With a _katunk_ the two great swords strapped there detached from the main body. It swung them around, carving great rents into the cavern walls and dropping rocks onto the men below. It roared again, the sound tearing through the air.

The face of the Gunman whose leg had broken opened, and the pilot scrambled out. "Shit!' the Beastman swore. "Guzak's gone crazy! I better get out of here!" The Beastman dropped tail and ran.

Dayakka, in the meantime, was working on damage control. "Everybody who's alive, fall back to the entrance! We'll try to hold it off there! I want all the women and children sent back down the tunnels to the old village, and all the tunnels sealed! Even if another poison gas attack might happen, it's safer than here! Everyone still able to fight, rally around the entrance and do everything to stop it!"

A soft, effeminate hand rested itself on his shoulder. Dayakka jumped again as Leeron whispered in his ear. "You know, my Super Special Secret Weapon is ready for action. You just have to give the order..."

Dayakka shivered. "All right, men! Hold it off! If necessary, we'll blow the entrance to the village itself! For Littner!"

**"For Littner!" **came the cry of the surviving fighters.

Leeron pouted and folded his arms in front of himself. "Well, it's not like it matters anymore anyways. Look!"

He pointed, and all the remaining men looked at the mountain of rubble. It was rumbling ominously, and as they watched the top exploded outward in a shower of rock. The red Gunman fell backward down the pile as another Gunman shot out of the top like a cannonball. It fell back down and landed on top of the hole it came out of, puny legs spread, drill-arms extended, and as the pink canopy opened Yoko hopped out along with a small shirtless boy.

"Hey guys! Sorry we're late!" she yelled. The shirtless boy just grunted.

Dayakka sighed in relief and pocketed the grenade he had been preparing to carry underneath the Gunman.

Leeron was absolutely starry-eyed. "Wow," he said, "That majestic robot! That marvel of engineering! Where did you guys get yourself such a fabulous mecha?"

"No time!" barked the shirtless boy. Everyone had been ignoring him, but now they all watched as he hopped back in the Gunman and grabbed the controls. "It's still alive! I've got to finish it off!"

Down at the bottom of the rock pile, the red Gunman was staggering to its feet. "Grrrrrr!" it growled. "What's this? Some sort of Gunman knockoff? How the hell did you humans manage to build something like that...? ...No matter. I'll crush you where you stand, and bring the remains back to my commander and return with a massive army to wipe you all out! Now prepare to feel my blades!"

Just then, a warning klaxon sounded out of the Gunman's speakers. Inside the cockpit a display showed up showing the time.

"Damn!" cursed the Gunman. "Sunset is upon us...You humans! Don't think you got away easy! I'll return tomorrow, with even more Gunmen! You can bet on it!" And with that it began sprinting away.

Simon gripped the controls and the booster began to glow with green energy before Yoko reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Simon," she said firmly, "he'll be back tomorrow. Right now, it's more important that you rest yourself before tomorrow. Who knows how many Gunmen he might bring tomorrow?"

Simon made an annoyed sound and walked the mecha back down the hill. Yoko was glad that he would still listen to reason, but Simon wasn't waiting in Littner because of her reasoning. Rather, he knew that if the red Gunman reported back to base, the news of a "miniature Gunman clone" might bring a whole host of Gunmen to Littner. So much the better if he didn't have to hunt them himself.

* * *

That night there was a festival in honour of their great victory. Simon just sat to the side in his Gunman's cockpit, watching while chowing down on a piece of meat. He didn't recognize it, but it was sweeter than the pigmole steaks he was used to. He watched as the men who had escaped unscathed danced around the bonfire and had mock battles, while others laughed while clutching broken ribs. Simon thought that Kamina would have fit in perfectly here. In fact, this was exactly what Kamina was looking for. A man's world, where great battles were fought every day for survival.

As Simon chewed reflectively, Leeron sidled silently up to his mecha. "Why, hello there, darling," he drawled in his extremely feminine voice.

"Mmph," Simon said around a mouthful of meat, completely unfazed by this strange man in his very pink vest and blue coverall. Leeron was a bit peeved - he got quite a thrill from making people jump - but quickly got over it and focused on the mech.

"Hey, so this is a pretty cool mech." Leeron said, leaning over Simon to poke at the dashboard. Simon threw him out of the Gunman. "Don't touch," he growled around a mouthful of food.

Leeron was just a bit miffed by this, but he didn't give up. He leaned on the side of the mech. Simon gave him a wary look, but kept on chewing.

"So what's its name?" asked Leeron.

Simon looked at him quizzically.

"It's a mecha darling. It _has_ to have a name, of course. Don't you know? It's bad luck to have a nameless mecha."

Simon swallowed. "It's a machine. It doesn't need a name. As long as it works for me, I don't care about its name or anything else."

Leeron made a tutting noise. "It's your own choice, little boy - anyway, how do you plan on beating that Gunman tomorrow? He looks mighty fearsome. How do you expect to take him on in your tiny little mecha?"

Simon's jaw set. "I'll destroy him," he said calmly. "I'll stab my drill in him again an again until he's a broken wreck."

Leeron tittered.

Dayakka came towards them with two cups full of slime-grape hippo juice. He handed one to Simon, who sipped at it hesitantly. It was sweet and tangy. Strange to think it came from a living animal.

"Thanks for saving our asses today, kid," said Dayakka, leaning against the wall on the other side of the mecha from Leeron. "I never caught your name."

"...I'm Simon."

"Well, then, thanks Simon. If you hadn't shown up, we'd all be dead."

"What, nobody's glad that I'm still in one piece?" Yoko joked as she sat down against the wall next to Leeron. Yoko was the only person who wasn't completely creeped out by Leeron. She was also the only girl to participate in the fighting.

"Naw, we're all glad to see you back in one piece. 'Course we expected nothing less from our crack sniper, but we're glad all the same."

Yoko laughed. It was a beautiful, crystalline sound, but it grated on Simon's nerves. He couldn't bear to hear laughter, not when his Bro was dead less than a day. He put his hands on the controls. The mecha's arms and legs extended, and he walked away from the group.

Dayakka watched as Simon walked off. "What's up with him?" he asked.

Yoko's face darkened. "He's from Jiha, the next village over," she said quietly. "The Gunman chasing me broke their ceiling and fell through. His brother died in the attack, doing something stupid to try and help me. He didn't take it well. I'm worried about him. He's pledged to kill all the Beastmen in order to avenge his brother. It's not a good way to cope, and it could go bad."

Dayakka nodded. "I guess we'll have to go evacuate the village tomorrow. That is, assuming we survive tomorrow's attack. If the Beastmen think we have Gunmen, they might send an entire army against us."

"But we do have Gunmen!" twittered Leeron. "Or one at least, and it seems very powerful for its size. Not that size matters anyways, as long as you have skill. And if Simon fails, we've always got Leeron's Super Special Secret Weapon Of Love ."

"You just added 'Of Love' at the end," noted Yoko.

"Why yes, of course I did. Everyone knows that things are more powerful when assisted by Love ."

Yoko wondered if the same could be applied to hate.

* * *

Simon was awake before the sun's gentle glow began creeping up on the eastern horizon. He sat in his Gunman, which stood upon the lip of the ravine in the grey half-light. He focused his will on the machine underneath it. He gripped the controls and manifested a drill on the right arm. He then dispelled it, and manifested another drill, this time on the left arm. Manifesting both arms and the one on the front, he bored into the rock beneath him. After several seconds he reappeared on the other side of the ravine.

He mused about the mecha's performance. It seemed to respond to his will in some way. It certainly seemed to manifest the drills based on his need for them. If he wanted to beat the Beastmen, he had to learn the exact limits of his powers, and be able to call on the drills instantaneously. Taking a deep breath, he got ready to practice.

A blue and red jacket fell across his shoulders. He looked over his shoulder and saw Yoko smiling at him.

"Hey there. Isn't it cold?" she asked. Simon noted that Yoko herself was still in her customary bikini top/hotpants ensemble, but decided to oblige her and slip his arms through the sleeves.

"There, it fits," she remarked. "Say what you will about Leeron's taste in his own clothes, but he sure knows how to dress others."

Simon was silent. Yoko sat on the edge of the cockpit, looking out towards the horizon.

"Soon, the Beastmen will be here," she said. "They always come, every morning. They launch over that horizon and drop in front of the ravine. Somewhere out there is the Beastman headquarters, and even now this morning's Gunman must be loading into the cannons or whatever that they use to launch them. Are you ready to fight them?"

Simon nodded. "No matter how many come, I'll fight them to the last. I'll destroy each and every one of them, no matter what it takes."

Yoko frowned. "You don't have to kill all of them you know. I mean, you could always just go after their leader."

Simon was quiet in thought.

Suddenly a light appeared in the sky. As they watched, it became brighter and brighter, and a distant screaming sound could be heard ripping through the air. Inside Littner, one of the villagers pounded on a sheet of iron, waking up the entire village and preparing them for battle.

"They're here." said Yoko seriously.

Simon gripped the controls. "I know. Go back, Yoko. I'll take care of this."

Yoko walked around to the front of the mecha and leaned forward, looking Simon in the eyes. "Whatever you do, come back alive," she said seriously. "The village needs you. Don't go putting yourself in danger deliberately."

Simon averted his gaze. "I know, I know! Stop treating me like I'm some kind of idiot just because I haven't been fighting Gunmen as long as you have!"

Simon turned the mecha and marched off towards the entrance of the ravine, jumping off at the end. Yoko shook her head in exasperation and started back towards the upper level entrance to Littner. The boy was beginning to seriously worry her.

Simon, for his part, was feeling _great_. The mecha was working perfectly, responding to his every thought and gesture exactly as he intended it to. He landed at the entrance to the ravine with perfect poise and folded his arms over his chest. His Gunman did likewise.

A red meteor slammed into the earth a ways in front of him. As he watched, the triangular shape unfolded into the familiar shape of the Gunman from yesterday. The pointed yellow legs and clawed yellow arms extended from the sides and it raised itself up to stand facing the ravine.

"I HAVE RETURNED, PUNY HUMANS!" it yelled. "BEHOLD MY MAJESTY, THE CRIMSON FURY OF THE EASTERN HUMAN ANNIHALATION FORCE! COMMANDER GUZAK!"

"Like I care!" Simon yelled back. "You're going down just as the others did!"

"OH? IT'S THE TINY GUNMAN KNOCKOFF! HELLO DOWN THERE!" It waved mockingly. "IF YOU MUST KNOW, I'VE GOT PLENTY OF BACKUP THIS TIME! SAY HELLO TO MY ARMY!"

A whistling sound cut through the morning air. The red Gunman raised its arms as dozens more shapes impacted into the dirt behind it. A great cloud of dust rolled forward, covering Jiha Village. When it had cleared, the red Gunman stood at the forefront of a small army of Gunmen.

"Five...no, ten...no, twenty Gunmen!" said Dayakka with increasing alarm as he counted the faces through his binoculars. "We can't possibly hold against that many! Everyone, pull back!"

Panicked defenders streamed back through the village entrance. Simon just stood at the entrance to the ravine, arms folded, completely calm.

"I will hold this point!" he declared. "So long as my Gunman functions, I shall not let one single Gunman past this point! You will kill no more humans! You shall not pass!"

Yoko watched in amazement as he sat there, not twitching a muscle. There was no fear. No terror. Only a cold, controlled rage.

The red Gunman laughed. "EH, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ANYWAY? SOME SORT OF WIZARD? IT WOULD TAKE SOME POWERFUL MAGIC FOR YOU TO STOP ME AND MY ARMY OF GUNMEN! UNITS 1 AND 2, PICK UP THIS LITTLE PUNK AND TOSS HIM OVER THE HORIZON FOR ME!"

"YESSIR!" called the two Gunmen closest to him on his right and left. They moved to pick up Simon in his tiny mecha.

Simon made no move and did not change his expression, but the gauge in front of him glowed green. Two drills appeared, one on each arm, and as Yoko watched Simon shredded the arms that tried to pick him up.

"HEY, NICE DRILLS BUDDY!" shouted the red Gunman. " SORRY TO DISAPPOINT THOUGH, BECAUSE THEY'RE NO MATCH FOR MY SWORDS!"

It drew the aforementioned swords. The triangular blades gleamed in the morning sun, reflecting the rays of light into the sky.

"GRAAAH! EAT MY BLADE, PUNK!" the red Gunman roared. It swung the sword down.

Simon was still unfazed. Crossing his drills over his head, he caught the blade. A ringing sound echoed down the ravine.

"PSYCH, PUNK!" yelled the Gunman. Simon looked and saw the foot swinging towards him. His eyes widened in surprise as the canopy deployed. The foot crashed into the mecha, sending it flying down the ravine before ploughing into a wall.

"Simon!" yelled Yoko. She abandoned her sniping post and ran down the steps into the main complex.

"FWAHAHAHA!" bellowed the red Gunman. "TRY GETTING BACK UP FROM THAT, WORM! I, COMMANDER GUZAK, SHALL BE THE ONE TO FINALLY RID THE WORLD OF THIS PESKY OUTPOST!"

Dayakka looked on in growing panic as the Gunmen began marching up the ravine. "Blow the charges! Stop 'em at the far end!"

"Sorry, hunny bunch, but we can't," said Leeron. "We still haven't set up any new explosives, y'know. We're out of them."

"Damn! Then what do we do now?"

Leeron winked. "Leave it to me, big guy. I'll launch in my Super Special Secret Weapon Of Love ."

"No, Leeron! Don't use that thing...! Damn," Dayakka swore as Leeron ignored him and continued skipping down to his Secret Laboratory Of Love .

Yoko, in the meantime, had reached the place where Simon had crashed. She opened up the canopy. Simon's head lolled around on his neck, his eyes closed, blood streaming down from a cut on his scalp.

"No! Nonono, Simon! Simon, wake up!" she yelled. She shook his shoulders and slapped him a couple times. "Simon! You can't die here! We need you! Oh god, how could you be dead? You're so young!"

Simon's eye's opened a crack. "I'm the same age as you, you know," he whispered. "I asked Dayakka."

Yoko's eyes welled up with tears. "Oh, I'm so glad you're all right! But why are you so short?"

Simon grunted and his mecha lifted itself off the ground. "Don't know, don't care. Right now, I need to focus on them."

The army of Gunmen he was referring to were slowly advancing on them. The red Gunman whistled as he saw them.

"SO YOU'RE STILL ALIVE, EH, PUP? WELL THEN, I GUESS MY BLADES AND I WILL HAVE TO TEACH YOU A LESSON!"

The red gunman sped up, its steps thundering in the ravine. Simon began walking his own mecha forwards. Blood streamed freely from his head. He missed a step and nearly stumbled, but corrected himself and kept the mecha walking. The canopy extended, concealing him from view.

"Yoko, stay back," crackled the mecha's speakers. "I got this."

Yoko hesitated before complying. Then the tone of the voice hit her. It was the kind of tone that brooked no nonsense. It was filled with barely contained rage, as if Simon's anger would burst free of its seams at any moment and cause him to go berserk. Perhaps it was her own delusions, but she felt as if it was pleading with her for her own safety. She ran back into the relative safety of the village.

Simon advanced upon the army of Gunmen. The red Gunman in front laughed.

"FWAHAHAHA! YOU'RE ACTUALLY SERIOUS! IT'LL BE FUN COMPLETELY CRUSHING THIS SPIRIT OF YOURS! PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE UNSTOPPABLE CHARGE OF COMMANDER GUZAK!"

The red Gunman leapt forward, swinging his sword. Again Simon extended his drills to block.

But there was one problem. They didn't extend.

He felt dizzy. He repeatedly moved the controls, but nothing happened. He couldn't focus properly, and the mecha wouldn't move.

The sword hit. The canopy saved Simon from direct harm, but the miniature mecha was sent flying sideways. As it spun in the air, Simon was hit with a wave of nausea. He struggled not to vomit while desperately moving the controls but nothing happened. The mecha rebounded off of the walls of the ravine and ploughed into the dirt. Simon nearly hit his head on the dashboard, and this time he couldn't help throwing up. Thankfully the mecha was tilted sideways, so the vomit painted a nice brown smear on the side of the canopy.

On the other side Simon could see a hand approaching in his peripheral vision. He didn't even try to stop it. It came down and the fingers wrapped around the mecha. Dimly Simon thought he might break free of the Gunman's hands if he could manifest his drill, but he couldn't concentrate well enough past his heaving stomach and pounding head.

The red Gunman leered at him. "WELL, WELL. LOOKS LIKE YOU WERE ALL TALK AFTER ALL. YOU KNOW, YOU'RE SO SMALL, LIKE SOME SORT OF BALL. I THINK I'LL TRY THROWING YOU **INTO SPACE!**"

The red Gunman wheeled its arm back and did exactly as promised. It threw Simon straight up. The tiny red Gunman flew up until it was merely a twinkle in the sky.

Yoko gasped. There was no way Simon could survive with the state he was in. She quickly hardened herself, however. Simon was gone, yes. But she still had a village to protect. She swung her rifle off of her back, and began loading it. She would defend this village to the last.

All of a sudden there came a terrible roar from the back of the village. She looked back in alarm, thinking there was a Beastman or something that had found its way back there. The silhouette of something Gunman shaped appeared and began marching toward her. She raised her rifle, ready to take it down for good, before a familiar, effeminate voice rang through the village.

"Kyaa! Behold my masterpiece, Leeron's Super Special Secret Weapon Of Love !"

It was, in fact, a disturbing insult to the name "Gunman". The limbs were assembled from a medley of different Gunman pieces, and it had about four arms and six legs. No two limbs matched, and it walked with a kind of limping shuffle. The cockpit wasn't even a Gunman cockpit, but rather a strange lump of twisted metal covered in switches and levers. The power source appeared to be all of the village's spare batteries (which had been missing for several months). Machine guns peeked from the shoulders, and a flamethrower protruded from the end of one arm. It looked like it might fall apart any second as it creaked and rumbled. It was painted bright pink in some areas, and neon aqua in others, with emerald green highlights and yellow star decals, all of which created a colour scheme that practically assaulted the eye. Leeron was, of course, the pilot.

"Leeron, what the _hell_ is that?" asked Yoko, lowering her rifle.

Leeron winked at her as the mechanical abomination walked past her. "Why, it's my Super Special Secret Weapon Of Love , of course! I had to assemble this one on short notice though, since the last one blew up !"

Yoko had no words.

The Super Special Secret Weapon Of Love trundled and lurched towards the Gunmen. "Oh, boys !" called Leeron. "I've come to entertain you!"

The machine guns popped out of the shoulders and began firing. This lasted all of ten seconds before they jammed and blew up for no apparent reason.

It was, however, sufficient to garner the attention of the lead Gunman. It turned and stared rather uncomprehendingly at the Super Special Secret Weapon Of Love .

"OH, ANOTHER GUNMAN KNOCKOFF? LOOKS LIKE THIS ONE WASN'T AS SUCCESSFUL. BUT I DON'T HAVE TIME TO PLAY WITH YOU!."

It swung its sword haphazardly. The sword actually swung too high, but the wind from its passage hit the Super Special Secret Weapon Of Love . It creaked and groaned ominously before collapsing into a pile of Gunman parts. Leeron extricated himself from the cockpit.

"Oh, dear!" said Leeron, tears running down his face. "My Super Special Secret Weapon Of Love ! It's ruined!"

He ran back to the village. Yoko prepared herself once again to defend the village with her life.

* * *

Simon was tumbling through the air. He was rising steadily, but he could feel himself slowing down. His knuckles were white on the controls, and he fought against another vomiting attack.

_Why?_ he thought. _Why didn't it work? Why can't I win? I just can't win! If only Kamina were here! If he were here, he'd grin and say something grand, and then he'd make it happen. I can't make good on my word. I can only run away, and if I don't run away, I fail. I'm a failure. I let Kamina die. I couldn't fight the Gunmen. I can't. I can't..._

He gripped the controls harder. His ascent continued slowing.

_But why? _he thought. _Why can't I be like Kamina? Why can't I take his place? What would Kamina do? What would he do..?_

Simon's jaw set. _Kamina would turn his loss into a victory! Kamina would turn things around! Kamina would use his power to defeat everyone no matter how hard they pushed him around! Kamina...grant me your strength! As I sit here, so close to your holy perch in Heaven, I pray to you! Grant me your strength, Great Kamina!_

He pulled his digger's goggles down as his ascent stopped. As he began falling, the legs of his mecha disappeared and became a giant drill. The booster on the back pushed out and spun around, facing downward. With a blast of green energy it propelled him down faster than he had ascended. With a roar he aligned himself towards his intended target.

For the third time that day a whistling cut through the air above Jiha Village. Neither side had expected it, and everyone present, human and Gunman alike, turned their gaze towards the heavens. The whistling quickly built into a roar, then the scream of the air itself tearing apart.

A red blur smashed into the lead Gunman from above. The legs exploded from the impact, quickly followed by the arms for almost no apparent reason. A wave of dust billowed out as the Gunman's core wash pushed into the dirt.

Inside the cockpit, Commander Guzak found himself nearly impaled with a massive drill that had suddenly sprouted from the roof of his Gunman. "What...what is this?" he stammered, desperately jerking the controls.

Above him, a smile slowly grew on Simon's face. It grew into a great grin, and then evolved into a great laugh.

"Thank you, Lord Kamina!" he laughed. "I shall use well this power you have given me!"

He noticed a sign flashing in his peripheral vision. It read "Forced Combining: Y/N?"

"Forced Combining?" asked Simon. "I don't know what that is...but it sounds fun!"

The Y option blinked, then the window closed. The display filled with a pattern of green bars. Meanwhile, the red Gunman's cockpit did the same. The pilot was reduced to babbling in terror, until he was spat out of his Gunman's mouth like so much old gum.

A new display flashed on the display. It was a diagram of a completely new mecha, incorporating elements from both of the first two. As Simon looked over it, he understood what was going on. His manic grin only widened. However, there was a problem. The arms and legs had yet to be filled, and were flashing alongside an error message. Simon couldn't read yet, but he got the point.

"Needs arms and legs does it? Well then I'll find some new ones!"

He roared, and the gauge filled with green. As everyone watched in awe, green tendrils of energy shot out of the arm and leg sockets. They snaked over to Leeron's Super Special Secret Weapon Of Love (or what was left of it) and began picking up parts. They carried them over to the Gunman as it was suffused in a green aura, and the parts began assembling themselves into new arms and legs, the parts twisting into new ones to fit into the new Gunman.

Simon felt that now was the proper time to give a speech worthy of Kamina.

The canopy opened, and Simon stood with his arms folded, staring down the army of Gunmen.

"A few short minutes ago, your leader asked me who I was!" he began. "If Kamina were here, he would have stared him down and asked "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?" and you would know _fear!_ But Kamina is done with this mortal realm! So I am left, and in his place, I ask you, WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM? I will tell you! I am Simon the Digger! I am the First Apostle of Lord Kamina! I have come to rid the world of you Beastman worms! With this Gunman, and the power given to me by Kamina, I will exterminate you!"

The Gunman completed itself. It was taller than the other Gunmen, towering above them on long legs. Its arms were great and strong and were graced with massive shoulder guards. It turned to face the Gunman army before it, and folded those arms over its chest.

"This Gunman is given to me by LORD KAMINA!" roared Simon. "With it I will DESTROY YOU! YOU WILL FEEL THE WRATH OF THE **KING KAMINA!** I repeat myself! **WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I **_**AM?**_"

The red paintjob began seeping out from the core unit, covering the new arms and legs in a similar shade of crimson. The new Gunman, the King Kamina, picked up the swords discarded by its predecessor, and with a roar it charged into the enemy ranks.

It was a short battle after that. The cleanup would take more time than it took for the King Kamina to dispatch the army.

* * *

"Oh, what a glorious mecha!" Leeron twittered, examining the King Kamina from all angles. It now rested on one knee inside the village proper, hastily rigged catwalks and apparatus arranged around it to provide easy access. Simon himself was busy with a red can of paint and another of black, painting something on the shoulder guards.

Leeron leaned forward and smooched the mecha's leg "I can't thank you enough, big guy! I have plenty of parts now to rebuild my Super Special Secret Weapon Of Love !"

Yoko shuddered at the thought of Leeron building anything else bigger than a toaster. She looked up at Simon, who was busy painting.

"Hey Simon, whatcha painting?" asked Yoko cheerily. Inside, however, she hadn't stopped worrying. Sure, he wasn't as miserable as he was before, but the whole "First Apostle of Lord Kamina" thing was worrying, as well as naming the mecha after his dead brother.

Simon didn't glance away from his painting. "It's the symbol of Team Gurren!" he called back. "Kamina used to carve this into walls and stuff all the time! It's the symbol of his power!"

"Team Gurren?" asked Yoko.

"Yeah, it was our little group of rebels back in Jiha village! Although only Kamina was really serious about it. This flaming skull wearing his sunglasses is his symbol. Oh, by the way Leeron, how are those shades coming?"

Leeron paused in the middle of rubbing his body all over the King Kamina's leg. "Oh, those things. Well, we melted the swords down, and we've set the mould, so they should be done for tomorrow."

Yoko started. "You melted down the swords to make _sunglasses?_"

Simon nodded. "It's the King Kamina. It's Lord Kamina's mecha, so it has to have Lord Kamina's shades."

"Well, at least you named it," said Leeron. "Goodness knows what bad luck could have befallen us if you hadn't!"

Simon put the last stroke of paint on the shoulder guard. He moved over to begin painting the other. "By the way, Yoko, could you go talk to Dayakka about evacuating Jiha for me?"

Yoko put her hands on her hips. "Don't order me around! I've been fighting Gunmen longer than you, you know!"

"Yeah, whatever. Just do it."

Yoko stormed off in a huff. Leeron simply raised his hands noncommittally.

The sun reached its zenith. Littner village had survived another morning.

* * *

Somewhere far away from Littner, Former Commander Guzak was seriously regretting his survival.

He cowered on the floor before the Great General, Thymilph the Raging Wave. Thymilph sat on his great command chair, glaring down at his commander. All 800 pounds of him quivered in rage.

"So you gathered a squad of twenty Gunmen, without my permission, took them to the village...and every single one was lost?"

"Y-yes, Lord General," whimpered Guzak.

Thymilph continued, in a quiet voice that belied his inner rage. "Are you aware of the price for failure, Guzak?"

"Y-yes, General Thymilph, sir."

"Do you know that it is directly proportionate to the scale of your failure?"

"S-sir!"

"Viral. Do the honours."

A lithe figure slipped out of the shadows behind Thymilph. Guzak realized what was coming and cowered, whimpering and pleading in terror. Viral's stride was like that of a cat stalking its prey, or a shark circling its victim. A knife blade flashed, and Guzak's neck opened with a spray of blood. Viral calmly wiped off his blade and sheathed it.

Thymilph sat back in his chair, stroking his chin. "Such incompetents. I suppose not all my minions can be as competent as you, Viral."

Viral returned to his superior's side. "But sir, is it not possible that what he said is true? Could the humans have some kind of Gunman clone?"

Thymilph grunted. "It is indeed possible."

Viral turned slightly. "Sir?" he asked, as if making a request.

"Yes, Viral. You have permission."

"Thank you, sir."

"However. Wait until tomorrow's sunrise. I will not make a shamble of tradition simply because the humans have managed to copy our Gunmen."

"Yes, sir."

Viral disappeared into the shadows.


	4. Nikopol

A pair of black binoculars peeked out over the crest of a rock outcropping. The owner adjusted the lenses and looked down the binoculars at his future target. With an analytical, strategic mind, he took stock of Littner Village's defences.

He had to give them credit for choosing the ravine. It was nice and long, and only a single Gunman could go through at a time, making it easy to pick them off and stall any invading force. However, he was skeptical of their record of blowing up the sides to crush the Gunmen with falling rocks. It was effective to be sure, but it gradually enlarged the ravine, slowly reducing the advantage it gave.

Although, they didn't have to rely on that anymore. Viral refocused his binoculars and sneered at the village's mechanoid guardian, his pointed shark's teeth showing.

* * *

Nikopol

* * *

The crimson mecha was much taller than a regular Gunman, about as tall as his own Enki. It had two faces, one in the abdomen, and one where the crest would go. Viral focused on the top face. Yes, it did appear to be a separate Gunman with its own cockpit. Even now he could see the pilot, a blue-clad figure, languishing in his seat. Viral thought back to the deceased Commander Guzak's stories about a miniature Gunman hijacking his own. The stories appeared to be true. Viral did not regret executing the former commander, though. Such incompetents needed to be culled from the flock. Besides, he would follow General Thymilph into the depths of Hell if need be, and take his own life at the General's command.

Viral tucked away his binoculars and slid back down the outcropping. About halfway down he made the distant jump into the Enki's waiting cockpit. The inner cockpit shields closed, closely followed by the outer ones, and the Enki straightened, awaiting its master's input. Viral grasped the controls in his hands, his bloodlust rising. Yes, the humans would give a good fight, but in the end, he would have the satisfaction of tearing apart that disgusting red Gunman knockoff. And then he would extract the pilot and crush him in Enkidu's hand. Viral would go to the ends of the Earth for the General. But it was okay if he had a little fun along the way.

* * *

Simon was having a hard time sitting still in his cockpit.

His fingers twitched over the controls. His feet tapped along the floor and around the hole that led to the lower cockpit. His eyes scanned back and forth along the horizon, searching for the telltale glow of an approaching enemy Gunman. His ears eagerly awaited the shrieking sound that preceded their arrival.

"Why haven't they gotten here yet?" he complained. "I can't wait all day! Come on, I'm getting bored here!"

"Calm down, Simon," Yoko admonished him, her voice crackling over the inner speakers. Simon had grudgingly allowed Leeron to touch the King Kamina in order to modify it to receive radio transmissions, and even then Leeron seemed to spend much more time in the cockpit than should have been necessary.

"Argh! I just wish they were here already! I'm itching to destroy some Gunmen!"

"Maybe it's a slow day. We could do with a break, anyway."

"Cowards! They are scared to face Kamina's wrath!"

Yoko clicked off her communicator and sighed.

Leeron winked at her. "You sure spend a lot of time worrying about that young man. Do you have...a thing for him?"

"Ew, no. Who do you think I am, you? I'm not into young boys."

"But he's the same age as you."

"Oh, come on! You don't expect me to believe that, do you? I'm clearly older than him. I mean just look at these!"

She bounced her breasts to emphasize the point. Every male in the vicinity stared.

"So what is he to you, then?" asked Dayakka, trying not to look at her considerable cleavage.

"I guess you could say he's like the little brother I never had. Something about him just drives me to protect him, especially after his brother died. I think that, right now, he needs friends and family to help him get through everything."

Leeron wrapped his arms around Yoko from behind and squeezed her breasts. "Ohoho! So now you've got the maternal instincts to match these bad boys, Yoko!"

Yoko squeaked and tried to extricate herself from Leeron's embrace.

A rather large explosion interrupted them as a Gunman landed a ways in front of the ravine. The dust from the impact swirled into a twister, then flew away, revealing a gunmetal grey Gunman. It was approximately as large as the King Kamina, only sleeker, with a menacing face etched in darker shades of grey. It sported a head-like appendage resting on top of it, crowned with a helmet that had a circular crest protruding from the top.

"...Huh. That's new," remarked Yoko.

"HUMAN SCUM! GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS! I AM VIRAL, OF THE HUMAN ANNHILATION FORCE, FAR EAST THEATRE!"

"...You have two faces." remarked Simon.

"Yeah, so? It's traditional for an officer's mech to sport one in order to distinguish it from the hordes of incompetent grunts!"

"Nice helmet."

"Why thank you, I...Wait a minute! Why should I be talking to you unwashed, filthy human scum? You're worth less than the dirt beneath my Gunman's feet!"

"Actually, I rather fancy your helmet."

"Hwa?" Viral exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah. In fact, I think I'll claim it in the name of the Lord Kamina! Hand it over!"

"What...no! I'll show you its power!"

Streaks of red light began gathering at the centre of the crest. They coalesced into a glowing red ball of energy, and a beam of red light lanced out, hitting the King Kamina, which had barely thrown its arms out to defend itself. There was a mighty explosion, throwing dust and smoke everywhere.

"What the hell was that?" exclaimed Yoko, coughing on the smoke before pulling up her scarf to act as an improvised filter. "I've never seen anything like it before!"

"Looks like some sort of energy beam," responded Leeron, who was borrowing the free ends of Yoko's scarf. "How's Simon? Contact him and see if he's okay!"

Yoko pushed a button on her headset. "Simon!" she yelled through the scarf. "Are you okay?"

She was answered by a giant red and black foot dropping in front of her. The smoke swirled and disappeared, revealing the King Kamina, smoking, but still intact.

Inside the Enki, Viral grimaced. "Still alive, eh, human?" he snarled. "You must be tough to withstand the impact of my beam cannon! Still, I doubt you could take repeated blasts!" The ring glowed, and it began charging up for another shot.

"Stop it, Simon!" yelled Leeron, who had stolen Yoko's headset. "The King Kamina will survive, but we need to evacuate the rest of the defenders, and that particle beam will vaporize them!"

"Gotcha!" responded Simon. With a bellowing warcry, he launched the King Kamina at the Enki.

Viral noticed the red giant hurtling towards him. "Impudent fool!" he roared. He sidestepped the charge and lashed out with a leg, sending the King Kamina flying. He turned around and followed up with a particle beam. Another explosion rocked the earth, and one of the many rock structures littered about crumbled in a cloud of dust.

Yoko squinted, trying to see the King Kamina through all the dust. Eventually she was rewarded as the red giant rose from underneath the pile of rock.

"Tch!" said Viral. "Still alive, aren't you? Try another, then!"

A red light blinked off to his left. Viral's head turned, and he growled as he read the popup.

"Needs to charge? Dammit...I guess I'll just have to do things the old-fashioned way!"

The Enki advanced on the King Kamina, which was finally pulling itself out from underneath the last of the wreckage. Enki booted it once in the stomach, causing the King Kamina to flop back on the ground facedown with a crash. Enki placed a foot on the back and grabbed an arm, twisting.

"Damn dirty humans! I'll make you know pain! I'll tear apart this disgusting disgrace to Gunmen, and I'll present it to Lord Thymilph, who will use its parts to improve his own custom Gunman!"

Simon gritted his teeth inside the upper cockpit as sparks began flying out of the left arm socket. He could hear the screeching sound of metal grinding together, sending shudders shooting through his jaw. For some reason he couldn't create a drill. Perhaps it had something to do with the larger robot, but the gauge refused to rise.

Yoko was looking through her scope, trying to find a weak point on the Gunman. "Dammit, I can't find one!" she exclaimed, frustrated. "It's too well designed! There are no power conduits or anything that I can shoot!"

Leeron rubbed his chin. "Mmm, I always like something that's well-designed. I especially like the joints. They're so limber and _flexible._"

"Now is not the time for your creepy fetishes, Ron!"

There was a pop and a small explosion as the King Kamina's arm went limp. Enki took hold of the useless appendage and whirled, spinning twice before releasing the broken mecha, flinging it into another rock structure. That one, too, cracked and fell under the force of the impact.

Enki began marching towards its victim again. "Foolish human!" roared Viral. "You thought you could stand against the might of we Beastmen, but you never stood a chance against the apex of Gunman technology! My Enki will crush you!"

"Enough!" came a shout from the King Kamina.

Enki recoiled in surprise as the red mecha rose from the ground, clutching its broken arm at the shoulder.

"You talk too much! I can't enjoy the battle with you yapping away like that! Just shut up and fight already!"

Viral sneered. "Back on your feet again? You humans don't know when to give up!" A message popped up in Viral's peripheral vision. "CHARGE COMPLETE". Viral's face split in a feral grin.

"I'll finish you off with a blast from my beam cannon! Say goodbye to your pitiful existence on this blasted earth!"

"I told you to shut up!"

Twin drills extended from the King Kamina's hand. It lunged forward, catching Enki in the face. Enki recoiled, falling backward. The beam of red light shot into the heavens, vaporising a passing cloud.

"Urg! Still got some fight in you, do you!" growled Viral. "I'LL FIX THAT!"

Enki withdrew a pair of twin blades holstered at its waist and fell into a fighting stance. The King Kamina lunged forward again, but this time found its fist stopped by the two long swords. With a flick of the wrists Enki batted away the King Kamina's arm and sent a blade ramming through the lower cockpit.

"That'll fix you!" gloated Viral. The particle cannon mounted on its head began to glow red again, a ball of energy forming at the centre of the circle. "I'll vaporize this mecha, and then I'll destroy the village!"

The King Kamina's hand came forward and grabbed the blade protruding from its abdomen. Viral recoiled in shock.

"How? I broke that arm! And I destroyed the cockpit! How could you still be alive...? No! That's right, the pilot sits in the head! Dammit! I'll make sure to get you this time!"

The other blade whipped toward the head, only to be caught by the King Kamina's free hand. It twisted, and the black blade shattered.

"I told you! If you're always prancing about yapping like that, you'll be destroyed!" yelled Simon.

Enki jumped back and fell into a two-handed fighting stance with its remaining blade. "You damn dirty ape! I'll make sure to finish you off with an overloaded particle beam!"

"Oh no you don't!" yelled Simon. He put all his will into the King Kamina, and it grabbed at the helmet. Enki dodged narrowly, but the red mecha's fist caught the top-right edge of the ring, breaking it. With only one prong it could not operate.

"Out of commision!" Viral yelled, noticing the red popup on the side of his cockpit. "You're a really annoying bug, you know that? You persistent little pieces of dirt won't stop me! I won't submit to the dishonour of defeat!"

Enki lunged forward with its remaining sword, slashing downwards. It was Simon's turn to dodge nimbly, following up with a punch to the gut. Viral reeled in his cockpit as the Enki was sent flying.

"Beastman bastard!" yelled Simon. "You take everything for yourselves, leaving little for the humans! You take the freedom of surface life! You take Gunman technology! And you leave almost nothing for human consumption!"

The King Kamina advanced on the fallen Enki. Enki flung an arm out and a compartment opened. A dozen giant knives flung out, only to deflect off of the King Kamina.

"Well, guess what, Beastman? Even with the little that you have given us, humans will build a stairway to HEAVEN ITSELF! And once we have reached there, we will tear you from your opulent thrones and throw you down into disgrace! Lord Kamina has told me that it is to be so! I will fight through every single Beastman to reach this goal, and none of you will stop me!"

Enki pushed itself up and started running away. The King Kamina sprinted after it, catching up in little time, tackling the Enki and pinning it against the ground. Taking the helmet in its hands, it pulled back with all its might. With a shrieking sound of metal tearing the helmet pulled free. The King Kamina jammed it unceremoniously onto its head, and the prongs turned gold as the helmet was coated in red. The newly crowned King Kamina sat on the Enki in all its glory, the golden prongs shining bright in the noontime sun.

Enki squirmed underneath the King Kamina's weight. Simon got annoyed and turned to place the King Kamina's fist against the back of the grey mecha.

"I tire of you," said Simon ominously. "I will now permit you the privilege of feeling the pain of Lord Kamina's drill. Now die!"

A drill extended from the red and black fist, puncturing the mecha with a screech of metal, spinning wildly and grinding the sides of the hole, until there was no trace of the cockpit remaining. Simon withdrew the drill and brought the King Kamina to a stand. He raised a fist, and the defenders of Littner, along with the Jiha refugees, exploded into cheers.

In his shadow, an agile figure slunk off into the wastelands. It disappeared behind a rock outcropping.

* * *

Thymilph's great, hairy fist smashed into the side of Viral's face. The part cat/part shark humanoid was sent flying, only coming to a halt when he came into painful contact with a metal wall. The 800-pound gorilla General sat down heavily in his command chair. Viral picked himself up from the floor and returned to kneel in front of his superior once more.

"Do you know the price of failure, Viral?"

Viral never twitched. His eyes remained staunchly fixated on the floor as he awaited his fate.

"You should not have ejected, Viral. Frankly, you should have accepted your fate. Not only have you, my most trusted commander, failed to neutralize this human Gunman, but you have also lost the prototype Enki, specially given to me by Lordgenome himself."

Viral remained motionless.

"I have two choices. I can label you an incompetent and have you shipped to Teppelin as fodder for Lordgenome's experiments, or I can accept the threat of this human Gunman and label your failure as underestimation of enemy firepower."

"Sir, give me a Gunman, any Gunman, even a grunt will do, and send me again tomorrow..."

Thymilph rose and strode purposefully towards Viral, who remained motionless. He lashed out with a foot, hitting Viral in the nose, sending him reeling backwards again, falling on his back. When Viral tried to rise again, Thymilph lunged out and grabbed his subordinate's neck. At eight feet, Thymilph was capable of lifting Viral a good distance off the ground.

As Viral choked, Thymilph stared into his eyes. "You dare tell me what to do, failure?" he murmured softly. "I will not send you out again. Despite your obvious mental difficulties, you are yet my most proficient pilot. You will not sortie again until I can get a downgraded Enki shipped here from Teppelin."

Thymilph released Viral, who fell to the ground, gasping for air.

"We will continue to send regular Gunman raiding parties. I recognize that they are no longer sufficient to keep the humans in check, but if your report is correct, then eventually, that red Gunman will come to me." Thymilph grinned, showing off sharpened teeth. "They may call me Thymilph the Raging Wave of Fire, but for now, I will content myself to smoulder gently in patience."

For good measure, Thymilph gave Viral another punch, this time to the ribs. There was a crunch of bone breaking, and Viral fell backwards, mouth opening and closing in laboured attempts to breathe.

"Get gone, you lousy dog. I don't want to see your pathetic face before me again until the downgraded Enki gets here."

Viral struggled to his feet and limped out of the command room. Thymilph, the Beastman General of the eastern area, one of the Four Great Beastman Generals serving under Lordgenome, turned to plan his strategy for the eventual encounter with the strange red Gunman.


	5. A Brief Interlude

**So I'm skipping episodes 4, 5, and the bathhouse scene. Why? Because this is fanfic, and I have my reasons for doing so. The story will flow a little better without them.**

* * *

Respite

* * *

It had been a week since the attack of the strange slender grey Gunman. And Simon was getting very, _very_ bored.

The King Kamina's hand reached out and picked up yet another Gunman part. Simon glared angrily at the Gunman arm, willing it to put itself back together and fight. Grunt Gunmen were barely any resistance any more. Simon honestly wondered why they even bothered sending the raids anymore.

"All right, Simon, put it down in the village!"

Simon obliged, sticking the giant red and black hand inside the village entrance. He released the dismembered arm and it dropped with a clang. Immediately, teams of workers swarmed around it, pushing and pulling it over to the mechanical storage located further inside the facility.

"That's it for now, Simon! Pack it up and let's take a lunch break!"

Dayakka switched off the comm. He waved a hand and all the workers cleared out of the newly remodelled entrance. The King Kamina marched in, turned, and knelt on one knee, the knee resting on a painted x, and the free foot resting on another. Metal catwalks swung out from the sides, latching on to the main body. A hatch in the red mecha's helmet opened and Simon hopped out, landing on one of the catwalks. He threw the core drill over his neck and climbed down a series of ladders to reach ground level.

A crowd had gathered to watch the King Kamina dock. Most were clad in rough, often tattered grey or brown garments. These were the survivors from Jiha, who had been evacuated the day before the grey Gunman had arrived. They parted to allow Simon through, some reaching out to touch his sleeves, the hem of his jacket, or a lock of his hair. Simon stayed calm until he broke free of the crowd and entered one of the side hallways, at which point he rubbed those places in an irritated fashion.

He took another turn and entered a room labelled "Command Room" in sprawling white paint. Leeron and Yoko were already waiting there. Yoko noticed his irritated rubbing and smiled.

"A hero's duty is never done," she remarked, fiddling around with pieces of her rifle as she sat on the floor.

"I just wish they wouldn't do that," said Simon, plopping down on one of the chairs littered around the room. "It's damn annoying."

"Oh, let them have their fun," said Leeron. "I know _I_'d worship you. Or rather, I'd worship that mecha you pilot." Leeron licked his lips. "It's so manly, so _tough_...those shades really make it, you know. They just fill me with _bubbles_."

Dayakka came in and sat down at the front of the room, directly across from Leeron. Leeron gave him a wink. Dayakka flinched.

"Nice work, Simon," he said after recovering. "For the first time in ages we've been done before lunch. That Gunman of yours really makes things easy on us."

Simon shrugged. "They're sending weaksauce Gunmen now. I wish they'd send something tougher, like that silver robot. Now that was a fight."

Yoko gave him a dark look. "Simon! Don't go wishing bad luck on us! You were nearly beaten that time!"

"But how am I to appease Lord Kamina with these weaklings?"

Yoko decided to drop it. It was pointless going any further.

"Hey Leeron," she said instead. "Check out this part, will ya? I've taken my rifle apart a hundred times, and I still can't figure out what this does. It doesn't seem to do anything, but the rifle won't work without it."

She picked up a small black box from the pile of parts on the floor in front of her and tossed it to the mechanic. Leeron studied it intently.

"Hmm. Now this one's a _puzzle._" He looked at it closely and felt along it for cracks. Presumably he found one, because he began pulling at one of the edges and whacking it against the table. He tossed it to Dayakka, who caught it in surprise.

"Hey muscles, would you take a look at this for me? _Puh-leaze?_"

Dayakka looked at it. "I can't see anything," he said finally. "It's just a smooth black box."

"Well, toss it back," said Yoko. Dayakka obliged. Yoko quickly reassembled her rifle and leaned it against the wall.

"Well, let's get back to planning...something," said Simon. "Honestly I'm not sure why we do this. I destroy things with the King Kamina, we spend the rest of the day building, and so on. It's damn boring, but it works."

"Actually, I found something you might be interested in, Simon." Leeron put on a pair of gloves, and several little spider-bots crawled into the room. It was creepy, sure, but Yoko figured that since they were smaller than a toaster then they had less of a chance of turning into an explosion. One rubbed itself against Dayakka's leg. He quickly kicked it away, and the little mechanical spider crawled over to join its brethren. They lined up in formation, a three by three square, before spreading out into a circle and projecting a three-dimensional image into the air above. Yoko, Simon and Dayakka leaned forward, interested.

As they watched, a 3-dimensional map of the surrounding area unfolded. Littner village rose from the ground, marked by one of the flaming skulls that adorned the King Kamina's shoulders. The image soon zoomed out, however, showing a wider view of the surrounding area before beginning to move westward. As it went on the area became less detailed, until only obvious mountain ranges and rivers were apparent. Soon the virtual map came to a stop above a river valley. Some sort of red indicator blinked there.

"You see, the other day I was...ah..._fiddling around_ in the cockpit..."

Yoko and Dayakka had blank looks on their faces. Simon glared at Leeron.

"You were messing around with my mecha again?"

"Well, anyways, I found some data for a recall point! That's where the Gunman goes to get picked up, sugar."

Simon stared intently at the hologram, his attention diverted for the moment and his anger temporarily forgotten. "So, you mean, this place here," he pointed, "is some sort of Gunman base?"

"Well, hun, at the very least it's a first step to finding one."

"And there'll be a lot of enemy Gunmen there?"

"Well...yeah, I guess, what of it dearie?"

Simon stood. "Rig the King Kamina's display to show those coordinates, Leeron. I'm going there."

Yoko leaped up and grabbed Simon's arm before he could leave. "Wait!" she said. "You can't leave!"

"Why not?"

"Well...uh..."

"You need a team, of course!" said Leeron. He crossed his legs and put a hand under his chin. "It's suicide to go without a team! Why I mean, what kind of interactions will we entertain ourselves with while you're travelling? It'll just be boring walking sequences!"

"The way _I_ was going to put it," said Yoko, "is that you can't go without backup. As far as we know, the King Kamina is the _only_ human-piloted Gunman. It's too valuable a resource to waste! Besides, how will we protect ourselves here at Littner if you're not around?"

"You managed before, you'll manage again." said Simon. He looked away into space, as if seeing into another world. "I need to do this."

"Please, Simon, just wait until tomorrow. That way, we'll have time to get prepared."

"We?"

"I'm going with you. You can't stop me."

"...Fine." Simon tore himself out of her grasp. "Come along if you must, but don't get in my way. We leave early tomorrow morning, and if you're not ready, I'll leave without you."

Simon stalked away into the depths of Littner village, all the while followed by a group of Jiha refugees.

"Seems they've taken him as their saviour," remarked Dayakka.

Yoko huffed. "Some saviour."

Leeron giggled. "Personally, I think it's more interesting this way! So much more dynamic."

Yoko gave him a glare.

* * *

Yoko woke at the crack of dawn the next morning. She yawned once before jumping out of bed and arranging a sack of provisions that she tied onto her rifle. Whistling, she strolled into the makeshift hangar.

The King Kamina wasn't there. She checked outside. It wasn't out there either.

There was no Gunman attack that morning. Yoko spent it cursing at nobody in particular and shooting at random rocks and pieces of equipment. This culminated with her taking one of the new bazookas out of storage and blowing up a piece of the ravine wall, causing a sizable portion to collapse.

The whole time Leeron watched while tapping at his PDA, smiling to himself.

* * *

Viral looked on as his new Gunman, the Enkidu, was lowered by air-Gunman onto the deck of the Dai-Gunzan.

Beside him a Beastman with cat ears and a cap watched nervously, every so often clicking on a comm unit to snap out orders to the operators. Eventually the two grey metal feet thudded onto the deck, and the cat Beastman waved the all clear. The two flying Gunmen zipped off as Viral turned to him.

"This is the Enkidu?" asked Viral.

"Sure is!" said the cat Beastman. "Enki prototype series mark II. Although it's the second in the series, it's a significant downgrade really."

Viral was disheartened by the news. "How different is it from the original?"

"We~ll, the frame is basically the same, but most of the weapons systems were removed. The hidden weapons compartments, the foldout wrist shield, the head-mounted particle beam...I'm especially annoyed by that last one. Do you know, it took me years to develop it? And then the only prototype gets destroyed. Sure I have the notes, but I wish we'd been able to retrieve the data at least."

Viral bowed his head. "My apologies. I was unable to return the Enki intact. I was forced to eject before my opponent delivered the deathblow."

The cat Beastman whistled. "_You're_ the poor sap that piloted the Enki? Wow do I feel sorry for you. You must've caught hell from the General."

Viral winced and put a hand to his side. Beastmen healed fast, but the memories were still there.

The cat Beastman noticed. "Yeah, sure looks like it. I'm surprised you're still alive, let alone allowed to pilot. That prototype was the only one of its kind, and Thymilph was quite happy to be given the honour. The Spiral King himself reportedly delivered it. It's quite merited, really. The development process itself was hell, I'll tell you. Took a year just to get the frame developed, then another to get the weapons systems working. The particle cannon...I won't even get into that one."

Viral looked upwards towards were said particle cannon used to sit. Where it used to rest was now some kind of bird crest.

"Yeah, it detaches to become a kind of hand axe, for use as a melee weapon. Hope you're not expecting to get another cannon. You're lucky enough we even had an extra frame to send here."

Viral shook his head. "No. Thank you for delivering this."

"No problems mate!" The Beastman made a small waving motion with his hand and hopping into his own flying Gunman. "And hey, try not to trash this one, neh?"

The Gunman flew away into the sky. Viral stepped forwards and placed a hand on his new Gunman, the Enkidu. There and then, he made a silent vow to obliterate the one who had defeated him.

* * *

Thymilph was sitting alone in his great command chair when the communications screen flickered to life. A wash of static filled the screen befere clearing to reveal the snouted face of the eldest of the Four Generals. Guame's slit eyes narrowed as the screen on his end connected, giving him a view of Thymilph. Thymiph smiled and placed a hammy fist under his chin.

"Guame," rumbled Thymilph.

"Thymilph," replied Guame. "The Enkidu should have arrived by now. My condolences on your loss of the...superior...prototype. I was happy to donate you the frame I was working on."

Thymilph grunted. "My thanks. I'll make note of it in my books as another one I owe you." He moved to cut the connection.

"Hold, Thymilph." Guame raised a clawed hand, and Thymilph's hand stopped. Guame took a long drag on his pipe and exhaled the smoke before continuing. "It's come to my attention that you...strongly...disciplined one of your commanders."

Thymilph frowned. "Guame, how many times have I told you to quit meddling in how I maintain my chain of command? I know I can't rid myself of either your spies or the worms they planted in my computers, but I'd appreciate it if you stopped reminding me of them."

Guame shook his head slowly. "Thymilph, I begin to think you've been spending too much time with Adiane."

"He needed to be put in place. I did so. Now, if you please, Guame, cease your meddling within my internal affairs."

Thymilph closed the connection and returned to brooding. Guame had reminded him of Adiane, and it would take a full hour before he could clear his mind of her.


	6. The Black Beast from the Earth's Maw

Sand. Rocks. Sky. Sun. Clouds, sometimes, though it never rained. Ooh, that rock formation looks like a...and more marching.

Very little broke the endless pattern of travel, eat, sleep and repeat. Simon was accustomed to the boredom; after all, he spent most of his life digging tunnels. No, "boring" was a familiar friend. The hunger, on the other hand, wasn't.

For the last few days he had been marching non-stop across the wastelands, tracking the signal from the recall point. To his frustration, it never seemed to get closer. During the night it would skip further away, leading Simon on a fruitless chase ever further into the wastes. Evidently the recall point was mobile; Simon had even stayed up all night to ascertain that yes, it did indeed move. This left him too exhausted to pilot the next day, and he almost drove the King Kamina off a cliff. From then on all-nighters weren't an option. Unfortunately, dwindling food supplies were also adding to his exhaustion. He hadn't calculated on the recall point being mobile, and he would have to catch up soon if he hoped to avoid death from famine.

Even in Jiha there had been plenty of food to go around. In his sleep Simon dreamed of pigmole steaks and delicious roasted mushrooms. One time he dreamed that a pigmole appeared and offered itself up to be eaten. Having no fire nearby, he consumed the pigmole alive. The pigmole died as gleeful tears streamed down its face. Simon woke from that one and immediately swore never to eat pigmole again. He fell asleep once more and had forgotten about it by the morning.

So he felt a kind of strange relief when he was ambushed by another Gunman early one morning.

* * *

The Black Beast from the Earth's Maw

* * *

The attack came from above. As the King Kamina passed a rock formation, a large silver shape jumped down from on high in an attempt to ambush Simon. Simon was close to dozing off and was nearly caught, but the glint off the Gunman's armour alerted him and a split second roll avoided the strike. When he came out of the roll, however, the enemy had vanished from sight.

All was quiet. The now-alert Simon sat with his Gunman in a fighting stance, listening attentively for any signal of an incoming attack and fully prepared to respond in kind. For a full minute he stood, waiting, but nothing happened.

His patience begun to wear thin. Raising two giant hands to the King Kamina's mouth, he shouted out across the wastes.

"HEY ASSHOLE!" he yelled. "QUIT BEING SUCH A COWARD AND FIGHT ALREADY!"

No answer.

Simon cupped the King Kamina's hands and tried again.

"HEY, COME ON! I'M GETTING BORED HERE! COME OUT AND-"

He was violently interrupted with a blow to the back. By the time he had returned to his feet, the attacker had already disappeared once more.

"Dammit..." muttered Simon, noticing the area around him for the first time. It was filled with various large rock structures, perfect for a Gunman to hide behind. He had walked into it without noticing in his sleepy stupor.

"Yes, I see you've finally noticed!" echoed a voice from somewhere in the maze surrounding Simon. "Remember to always choose your field of battle whenever possible! Look well, human! You can't see me, you can't hit me, you can't even dodge! So long as I'm careful, you'll never get a blow in!"

Simon whirled his mecha around in a vain attempt to locate the source of the voice.

"Kamina will guide me to your defeat!" he shouted back. "I can never lose, not with him on my side!"

"Kamina, eh?" came the voice's mocking reply. "Who is Kamina?"

"Kamina is...was my bro!" replied Simon. "He was killed during a Gunman attack! And yet, though he is dead, he isn't! He has ascended beyond Time and Space, and he guides me from where he sits in Heaven!" Simon raised an arm and pointed a finger to the sky. "He will lead me to pierce the heavens themselves!"

The voice was silent for a time.

"In all my years of service..." it finally said. "I have never seen anything like this. I have seen men kill themselves in grief for a comrade lost. I have seen men take on the clothes, jobs and habits of the fallen. I have seen men mutilate themselves as 'punishment' for letting a comrade down. I have seen men's eyes go dark, to never regain their shine. But I have never, ever seen a man do as you have done."

Simon's eyes narrowed.

"What are you implying?" he snapped. "That this is all some kind of delusion? No! I have been saved by Kamina, and I will continue in his name!"

"...Yeah," muttered the voice. "Fortunately, you won't have to worry about that too much longer! For you shall meet your end here!"

A grey shape jumped from the top of the highest rock formation. It spun, twisted and thudded into the dirt. The dust cleared, and the new Gunman was revealed.

"Meet your match!" yelled Viral. "The stealth unit Enkidu!" He pointed at the King Kamina. "This time, I will be the victor!"

"Looks like you just lost a bunch of the shiny parts," said Simon, unimpressed. "You seem to be missing your swords and...Oh, that beam cannon seems to be missing. Oh wait, that's right. I stole it. Want it back?"

"Impertinent brat!" spat Viral. "Do you have any idea..! Regardless. You will lose this one. The terrain is against you."

"I can see you just fine!"

"Well, you can _now_." The Enkidu sneered. "But if you must know, General Guame was kind enough to leave the data on his little experiment inside the Enkidu's records. Can you guess what it was?"

The Enkidu shimmered, then vanished. Simon looked about wildly, trying to find his foe.

"It was the prototype for a cloaking device!" came a voice from behind the King Kamina.

Simon grunted as a blow sent him reeling forwards. He spun, ready to counter...but Viral was gone again.

"Would you be kind enough to tell me your name?" asked Viral. His voice echoed around the rocks, making it impossible to track. "You see, I have to record this in my journal. 'Day six of patrol: killed a stupid human child. Name: Unknown.' As you can see, this just won't do."

"The name's Simon. Simon the digger." The King Kamina manifested a drill. "And don't go writing that journal just yet. Might want to wait and see if you die first."

"Oh, you're funny. I think I might like this."

The Enkidu reappeared in front. Reaching up, it grasped a strange crest that had replaced the beam cannon. It pulled and the crest came free, turning into a kind of curved hand axe.

"Just to prove my point, I'm going to come at you with this weapon and this weapon only."

Simon grinned.

"I'm pretty sure that's your only weapon," he said.

The King Kamina's hand grabbed its shades and pulled them off.

"But just to be fair, I'll use these. You're not the only one with cool-looking detachable weaponry."

Viral's eye twitched.

"Are you mocking me?" he said. "Don't be so confident! You'll never get a hit in!"

"Let's see then!" shouted Simon. He lunged forward and swiped at Viral.

The Enkidu disappeared in a flash. In another it had reappeared behind the King Kamina, and dealt a blow to the back again. The axe, though sharp, merely scratched Simon's Gunman. Simon turned and swung with the shades, but Viral was gone again.

"Ha!" laughed Simon. "Your attacks do no damage!"

"Laugh while you can," floated Viral's voice. "The stings of a million bees can fell even the mightiest of giants!"

Once again Simon was thrown forwards from an attack, and once again he turned to find that his adversary had disappeared. Over and over again this happened.

"Backstabbing bastard!" grunted Simon after the latest in a series of blows. He was getting dizzy from the repeated rocking of the cockpit, but he had noticed a pattern to the attacks. "Let's see you try that again!"

"Good idea!" came the voice from behind him.

But Simon was ready this time. As Viral swooped down to strike, Simon spun and swung to hit Viral with his shade-sword.

"Too predictable!" yelled Simon, preparing to follow up. But Viral rolled out of the way and vanished again.

"Congratulations," said Viral. "Looks like even idiots can take a hint sometimes."

"Feh," spat Simon. "You're just predictable. When somebody has a history of stabbing others in the back, then you expect them to continue doing it."

"Then how about one in front?" said Viral. He popped into view right in Simon's face. Before Simon could react, the Enkidu had slashed at the King Kamina's chest. The strike didn't run deep, but it left a mark. Viral vanished again before any sort of coutner could be launched.

"Thank you for teaching me," said Viral. "Since you failed to finish me off with that one attack, I'll be sure to make my attacks more unpredictable."

A blow from the side knocked the King Kamina down. Simon got up again, only to be hit from the other side.

"Great," muttered Simon. "He's intelligent."

"More intelligent than you, brat!" said Viral as he materialized behind again, grabbing the King Kamina and flinging it into a rock wall.

Simon got his Gunman up with a bit of effort. Individually the attacks weren't much, but together they were taking their toll. Simon only had one last idea up his sleeve, and if it failed, Viral would almost certainly take him down.

"Hey, Viral," said Simon. "How about that last time we battled?"

"It was fun," floated Viral's voice. "You were unimpressive, I was amazing in my glory."

"But I won," said Simon. "I not only won, I completely trashed you. I brought down your Gunman, sat on it, and tore it to pieces. And I stole your helmet."

No response. Simon decided to continue.

"I can only imagine how humiliating it must have been. Going back, no Gunman, and having to say, 'Oh, sorry boss, I got my ass beaten in by a small child. And he stole my helmet. Please don't hurt me.' How much humiliation did you suffer? Why did they even let you pilot again?"

"Dammit, you stinking rotten half-evolved ape!" yelled Viral. "I'll finish you off with this last blow!" He leapt out of hiding, swinging with his axe.

The King Kamina's hand lashed out and struck Viral, surprising him and sending the Enkidu flying. It bounced and rolled along the ground before sliding to a stop on its face.

"You know, Viral..." mused Simon. "You're such a screw-up. I mean, you had the clear advantage, and it was even becoming effective. Then I goad you into an attack that you announce with a clear shout that telegraphs your location. And for Kamina's sake, you even forgot to turn your cloaking on."

"Damn!" swore Viral. He picked the Enkidu off of the ground. "Don't expect me to make another mistake like that! I'll keep going 'till you're dead!"

The Enkidu shimmered, disappeared...then shimmered and reappeared again.

"What?" exclaimed Viral. Inside the cockpit a message appeared that caused him to howl in anger.

**Cloaking Drive Damaged. Drive Completely Disabled.**

"What's wrong, Viral?" Simon grinned viciously. "Did I break another one of your toys?"

"D-dammit! Damn!" Viral shook with rage. "I thought I had you! I had you! Damn faulty technology!"

Simon merely continued smirking.

"I told you. Lord Kamina. Obviously, he has disabled your cloaking device as punishment for going against me."

"Shut up about your Goddamn Kamina!" yelled Viral. He charged forwards. Simon merely threw out his shades like a boomerang. Viral barely dodged the attack, and one arm was sliced off. The shades continued on to shear a decent-sized fissure in a cliff before returning.

"F_ck! F_ck!" swore Viral. "How do you do these things? Where does your strength come from? How do you manage to make the impossible possible?"

"I told you," sighed Simon. "Kamina."

"Oh, f_ck this," snarled Viral. "This just isn't worth it any more. I'm going to go back to the main force! I'll be back, damn you!"

The Enkidu turned tail and ran.

"Coward!" yelled Simon. "Stop running and..." He stopped and thought for a moment, before realizing something. "On second thought," he yelled, "keep running! Lead me to your base!"

He chased the grey Gunman through the maze. Several times he lost sight of Enkidu entirely, but drilling straight through a couple of rock walls took care of that.

Viral looked back in growing horror as Simon gradually closed the gap.

"Stupid glorified ape!" yelled Viral.

"Come on, let me catch you!" singsonged Simon. "I promise it'll be fun! We'll have so much fun, you, me and my drill!"

Viral only ran faster.

"Fine then," muttered Simon. "Let's speed things up!"

Simon summoned a drill and charged straight into a rock wall. The drill dug through like the rock was sand, throwing chunks of stone out behind it. Simon quickly found himself emerging on the other side, directly in front of a surprised Viral. The Enkidu turned around and sprinted away in the other direction.

"Hey! Get back here!" called Simon. He chased after.

Although the Enkidu was faster, Simon was able to smash straight through walls with impunity. He got closer and closer

"I'M COMING, VIRAL!" yelled Simon as he tore through another wall. "I'M COMING FOR YOU!"

His drill smashed through the other side of the wall, bursting out into the bright noon sunlight. Instead of finding more maze, however, Simon found himself out in the open again. Out in the wastes, Viral's Gunman stood with its arms crossed.

"Finished running, are you?" sneered Simon. "It's about time. I was wondering if I was facing a warrior or a wimp."

The King Kamina advanced out across the ground, walking towards Viral. A drill stood out on either hand.

"Feh," spat Viral. "I was correct in calling you stupid. You still haven't realized it?"

Simon stopped, puzzled.

"Realized what?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, my. And here I though you were just stupidly _brave._ No, you're just plain stupid. You think I'd come out here without backup?"

"You did last time," shrugged Simon. "Seemed your style. And I don't see anybody else around here."

Viral laughed triumphantly. A shiver of apprehension went down Simon's spine.

"_That's what you think,_" whispered Viral ominously.

Enkidu's right foot rose, and then slammed into the ground. There was a rumble in response to Viral's stomp, which reverberated in the air, rising in intensity until, finally, the ground itself fell away underneath Simon. A large cavern the size of a small town opened up, leading down into pitch-black darkness. Simon barely managed to jump away and catch the edge. He hung there for dear life as the rock began to give under the King Kamina's mechanical fingers.

Viral laughed maniacally. His Gunman crouched, then leaped straight down into the middle of the hole. His laughter carried up from the depths of the pit, ringing in Simon's ears.

"See for yourself!" echoed Viral's voice. "The true power of the Beastman Empire! Witness the _Dai-Gunzan_'s ascent!"

From the depths of the darkness came two great mechanical hands, each the size of the King Kamina. They reached out and grabbed the edge the pit, pulverizing the rock beneath them. Multiple projectiles shot out, trailing thick cables. They thudded into the walls.

The two hands gripped the rock harder, and with a mighty effort the arms pulled and the biggest machine Simon had ever seen pulled itself out.

It was painted in shades of grey and black. The head was very rectangular, yet its formation was definitely suggestive of a face. The two eyes glowed with an evil light, while the mouth was permanently open in the rictus of a grimace. The two hands were attached to two arms, each longer than three King Kaminas put one on top of the other. At each shoulder bristled multiple cannons, each and every one aimed straight at Simon. More cannons sprouted from the lower torso of the bridge, which was attached to a massive deck that jutted forward from between the gigantic legs. Viral stood on the deck, flanked by yet more cannons.

The Dai-Gunzan was big. It was heavily armed. And it was prepared to unleash all that power on Simon.

"DO YOU SEE!" shouted Viral. "DO YOU REALIZE HOW PATHETICALLY SMALL YOU ARE? YOU ARE BUT AN INSECT NEXT TO OUR MIGHT!"

"Yes, that's quite enough Viral," rumbled the Dai Gunzan.

"General Thymilph!" cried Viral. The Enkidu fell onto one knee, facing the bridge. "As you can see I've brought the enemy Gunman, just as requested."

"Yes, I see that," said Thymilph. "You have done well, Viral. Quite honestly I never expected you to even survive with the half-finished equipment I gave you. For your admirable performance, I will permit you the honour of giving the order that will exterminate this pest."

"Sir!" gasped Viral as the Enkidu stood at attention. "I will cherish this honour!"

"Yes, well, get on with it then. I haven't got all day."

"Yes, sir!"

The Enkidu turned to face Simon and raised an arm.

"CANNONS READY!"

Simon sent the King Kamina scrambling up over the edge in a desperate attempt to flee.

"AIM!"

The King Kamina sprinted away for dear life as over 40 cannons both large and small centred their aim on the fleeing mecha.

"FIRE!" cried Viral as the Enkidu's arm swept down.

Every cannon on the Dai-Gunzan fired simultaneously in a massive barrage, and for all its attempts to dodge, the King Kamina ended up as one big red target. Simon was sent flying through the air in a massive explosion. The flames swirled around the King Kamina, heating the interior to unbearable temperatures. The red mecha hit the ground face first a good distance away, and Simon flew forward in the cockpit and smashed his head on the dashboard.

"How far would you say it flew that time?" rumbled Thymilph to his crew.

"The computers calculate a 1.4 kilometre flight distance!" replied one of the Beastmen.

"Hm. Let's see if we can't beat that. Dai-Gunzan, advance!"

The giant black warship began moving forwards ponderously.

Simon pushed himself up off of the dashboard. Blood trickled down his forehead, leaking into his eyes and mouth. He coughed once, twice, and then slumped again. He could dimly hear the Dai-Gunzan's footsteps, and he could feel the growing rumble as they came closer. Presently it occurred to him, in his hazed mind, that it might be prudent to attempt an escape. Once more he tried to lift himself into a position where he could grab the controls. After some struggling, he fell once more. Then he got angry with himself for even considering retreat at all. This time he succeeded in returning to his seat.

Viral was stunned when he saw the red Gunman return once more to a standing position.

"In the name of the Spiral King, he just doesn't know when to die!" muttered Viral.

"Viral."

Viral jumped in surprise as General Thymilph's face appeared on his display.

"Sir! What is it?"

"I would like to give you a chance to redeem yourself. The enemy is obviously weakened. His posture suggests that he is fatigued and close to defeat. I suggest that you take this chance to finish him off. If you can do so, I will make certain that you receive a commendation for your efforts."

"Sir! I thank you for your gift!"

"Just shut up and get the hell out there or I'll blast him to pieces right here!"

The Dai-Gunzan came to a sudden halt a short distance away from Simon. Viral nearly lost his balance, but instead transformed his momentum into a jump. He flipped, spun, and landed in front of Simon.

"...Viral," breathed Simon.

"Yes, it is I," answered Viral. "I have been given the privilege of defeating you myself."

Simon laughed bitterly.

"Like hell! I've already beaten your ass in twice. How do you think you're going to defeat me?"

"Are you blind to your predicament?" sneered Viral. "Look at yourself. Your Gunman is heavily damaged and on the verge of falling apart. I have the advantage in numbers and firepower. And unless I miss my guess, you can't be in great condition yourself."

Simon could not refute these statements. Instead he replied to them in the only way he could: removing the King Kamina's sunglasses.

"Ah, the power of religious fervour," remarked Viral. "Even if it is misled. Farewell, Simon. I will mourn the passing of my greatest opponent."

He removed the axe from Enkidu's head, and charged forward with an overhand slash.

Simon fought bravely. He managed to block the first blow with his shades and return the attack with a mid-level slash, but he was too slow and Viral dodged back with ease. Laughing, Viral pressed the attack with a rain of blows. Simon wasn't able to get in a single blow, and his breathing quickly became laboured.

"Not up to combat, are you Simon?" gloated Viral. "Your willpower is impressive, but it will get you nowhere!"

"Sh...shut up!" panted Simon. He slashed recklessly.

"And there it is!" yelled Viral. He did something with his axe, too fast for Simon to track, and before he knew it his shades were lying point-down in the dirt several hundred metres away.

Simon just stood, breathing heavily, as Viral pointed his axe at him.

"You're done, ape," intoned Viral.

"Not...yet!" gasped Simon. "I still have my drill!"

Green energy spiralled up the King Kamina's arm in response to Simon's words. It gathered at the end into a conical shape. It coalesced, taking on solid form, with large metal grooves spiralling its length. The drill glowed green as the summoning completed, leaving the potent tool of destruction at Simon's hands.

Suddenly, Simon was hit with a wave of hunger and fatigue.

The drill shattered, dissolving into particles of green energy. Simon was suddenly acutely aware of the toll he had been exacting on his body. Scant hours of sleep with diminishing food had combined to weaken him to dangerous levels, and he was unable to continue fighting. His mecha fell to its knees in the dirt.

"Ha!" mocked Viral. "I was right! You've worn yourself down, ape. No warrior can survive without common sense!"

He raised his axe high, preparing to strike the final blow.

"Say goodbye, Simon the Digger!" yelled Viral as he brought his arm down in a vicious arc.

_Bang._

The sound of the gunshot cracked through the air. Viral's axe was blown out of the Enkidu's hand with a sound akin to a bell ringing. He stumbled back in shock as the blade landed several hundred meters away.

_Bang._

The second shot went straight into Enkidu's main body. It did no damage, but the force was enough to send the grey mecha reeling.

Simon turned in his seat, already certain of who was coming to his rescue. He wasn't completely correct, but what he saw was even more impressive.

A small force of brightly coloured Gunman were running towards them, kicking up a massive cloud of dust as they did so. There was an apelike one wielding two pistols in oddly placed hands, and a blue one with a large head-mounted cannon. There was a rectangular Gunman and a pointy yellow Gunman, and a Gunman with two faces side by side. A green dinosaur Gunman led the charge.

Even at this distance, Simon could see the barrel of Yoko's rifle peeking out from the top of the lead Gunman.

"CHAAAAAARGE!" came the war cry. The small squad of Gunmen rushed forward, intent on assaulting the massive Dai-Gunzan.

"It's the cavalry. How quaint," grunted Thymilph. He pointed forward and addressed his crew.

"Change targets!" he boomed. "Aim at the newcomers! Fire all cannons! Viral, finish up down there or you're going to get blown to dust like the rest of them!"

"Yes sir!" muttered Viral, He marched forward and grabbed the King Kamina's head. He began wrenching and prying at it.

"You filthy creatures seem to be coming out of the woodwork!" he grunted. "I can't take all of you, but I can at least get rid of this one before the General blows you all to hell!"

Another gunshot, and Viral's mecha was flung back again. He released the King Kamina's head and the red mecha slumped once more.

A viewscreen opened inside Simon's cockpit. He knew who it was without even looking. Still, he turned his head and met the redhead's angry glare.

"...You know, you're so dead once this is over," she said.

"Then why bother rescuing me?" replied Simon.

Yoko huffed and cut the connection.

Another window opened. This time it displayed a face unknown to Simon. A sharp-faced man with spiky yellow hair glared at Simon.

"...This is the kid that supposedly drove back the Beastmen?" he said disbelievingly. Simon didn't like his tone; it was loud and abrasive.

"Who the hell do you think _you_ are?" spat Simon.

"Why, I'm the Mighty Kittan! You can give up piloting now, kid, 'cuz this guy's gonna take down the Beastmen!"

"Yeah, good luck with that. I give you five minutes."

"What?"

Simon cut the connection.

Dayakka's face was the next to appear. "Hey, Simon," he said. "How are you doing?"

"Other than head injuries and a non-functional Gunman, I'm fine."

"We'll work on that after the battle. Here we go!"

The rescue team got within range of Thymilph's cannons.

"Fire!" yelled Thymilph.

The cannons roared. A curtain of fire arced forward to intercept the team of rescuing Gunmen.

"Now, everyone!" yelled Dayakka.

Hatches opened on the backs of the Gunmen. Rocket boosters flared, and the Gunmen put on a boost of speed. They managed to gain enough speed that the cannon fire landed behind them instead of in front.

"Graah! Sneaky bastards," roared Thymilph. "They've been planning this! Fire again!"

"Sir, we're reloading!" announced a technician.

Thymilph's hammy fist pounded on his armrest.

"Fire anything! Everything!" he roared. "Get those infidels before they have time to escape and regroup!"

"Um, sir, they're too close now. The main cannons won't reach-"

Thymilph stomped forward and decked the bridge bunny.

"We have turrets on the underside of this ship, you moron! Fire _those!_"

"Those still aren't working. Remember, they were damaged when we set up the trap."

"Well GET them working!" Thymilph thundered.

Meanwhile, the human Gunmen had reached Simon. A distressed Viral found himself facing a much larger force.

"Damn!" he grumbled. "I could've taken you if I had my old Gunman! I'll just have to retreat for now." The Enkidu leaped and landed on the Dai-Gunzan's deck.

"Go after him!" yelled Simon to his rescuers. "Kill Viral!"

"You're insane," said one of the Gunmen. "We'd be slaughtered by the deck cannons!"

"Retreat _is_ the most tactically viable option right now," agreed Dayakka.

"Screw you!" yelled Simon. "I've got to finish things with that bastard!"

"You can't move, remember?" said Yoko. "You're at _our_ mercy now, Simon. Boys, pick him up and take him away."

The King Kamina was larger than any of the others, and it would take two of the Gunmen to carry it. The monkey and the two-faced Gunman stepped forward to take the job.

"Alright," ordered Yoko. "Dayakka, fire Leeron's special package!"

"Are you sure? I mean, it's Leeron's tech..."

"The rocket boosters worked, so this should too! Hurry, or we'll have to fight our way out!"

The blue Gunman's cannon thunked, and a special shell was loaded. Dayakka turned and fired it into the air. It exploded not too far off the ground, and a cloud of dark smoke descended.

"Sir, we can't track them anymore!" said one of Thymilph's crew. "The smoke is obscuring all visual sensors, and it also appears to be interfering with our other instruments!"

Thymilph roared in anger.

The humans quickly and quietly made their escape.

* * *

It is a fact that reunions can be very awkward. Simon was beginning to comprehend just how awkward they could be.

His Gunman was carried off through the smoke back into the maze where he had fought Viral earlier. After a series of confusing turns, he found himself in a secluded valley bordered by tall hills. A kind of camp was set up inside the valley, complete with tents and campfires. In the very centre sat a hut made out of metal, presumably constructed out of scrap parts. Two small children played out at the edges of camp, while an older child watched over them.

The camp only took up half of the valley; the other half was reserved for Gunmen. It was here where they deposited the King Kamina, easing it onto its back so it could lie on the ground. When the movement stopped, Simon disengaged the canopy and rolled out of the cockpit.

"I am going to _kill_ you, Simon!"

And thus the awkward part began. Simon turned to see Yoko stalking towards him with murder in her eyes.

"You rescued me to kill me?" said Simon with a grin. Taunting the beast was not a good idea, however. Yoko walked right up to him and stuck a finger under his nose.

"Then I'll string you up in a tree and have the entire team take turns shooting at you with paintballs!" she raged. "How could you do that? You promised to take me with you, but instead you go running off on your own!"

"I never promised anything. You said I couldn't stop you, so I didn't. I just left before you."

Yoko's mouth opened and closed several times. Finally, she threw her arms in the air with an air of defeat.

"I see I can't reason with you," she sighed. "Damn, but you're a handful. Whatever. It's not like you'll be going anywhere any time soon."

"I'll be going out tomorrow to finish things."

"Not likely. Leeron!"

The mechanic appeared out of nowhere at Yoko's call. He saluted irreverently.

"Yes, Oh my mistress?" he said.

"Take a look at the King Kamina and report back to me on its condition."

Leeron immediately jumped into action. He sped all around the giant mecha, climbing here and there, examining both cockpits, and even opening up several compartments to look at incomprehensible tangles of wires. He was finished in moments, and returned to Yoko's side.

"Well, Leeron?" asked Yoko impatiently. "What's your opinion?"

Leeron slowly licked some grease off of his fingers. "Well, _something_ certainly did a number on it. Just what have you been up to, you naughty little boy?" Leeron winked at Simon.

"Cut the crap. Can it fight?"

Leeron huffed. "Well then, miss bossy-boots. I'd say no. It'll take weeks just to get enough parts to fix it. Even then, I'm not sure how long it'll take to make the repairs."

"You see?" said Yoko triumphantly as she rounded on Simon. "You're not going anywhere in that thing."

"Regenerative power."

Yoko blinked. "Huh?"

"Regenerative power. The King Kamina has a special regenerative ability. I'll be out there in no time."

"Yeah, that's why there're so many dents in it," said Yoko dismissively.

"I'll show you!" said Simon. "You can't keep me here!"

He walked over to the open cockpit. He jumped in, grabbed the controls, and stuck his drill in the slot. The gauge immediately filled with the familiar green glow.

"All right, now to get this thing off the ground..." said Simon. He moved the controls.

However, instead of moving the Gunman, Simon felt himself overcome by fatigue. The cockpit's entrance opened, and Simon fell out onto the ground. He blacked out just as Yoko rushed over.

"...did a number on this one, too."

"That idiot. I oughta have him flogged."

"Ooh, me too please!"

"...No."

Simon opened his eyes to the sight of Leeron looming over him. This would normally be alarming, but Yoko was also there. Simon tried moving his arms and legs, but found that they were restrained. By moving his head, he could see that they were strapped to the table he was lying on by means of leather bands. He glared heatedly at Yoko.

"Why," was the only thing he said, in a flat, emotionless tone.

"It's for your own good," said Yoko. "Leeron, who also doubles as our medic, is frankly amazed you even survived. Goodness only knows if your brain's intact, not that it would make any difference. And you look starved half to death to boot."

"That's 'cause I am," muttered Simon.

"What?" exclaimed Yoko. "No. Just no. You ran out of food, and you didn't even consider coming back?"

"You sound like you've been building up to this. You already knew, didn't you?"

"Does it matter? All that matters is that you're a stupid, pig-headed idiot."

"You tell him, sister!" cheered Leeron. "Rein him in!"

"Leeron, get him some food," said Yoko exasperatedly. The mechanic/medic left to execute her orders.

"Leeron's the medic?" asked Simon.

"He's the only one here who could dose the drugs. Still, there was that incident with the nurse outfit..."

Simon raised an eyebrow. Yoko just muttered, "Don't ask."

"I'm impressed," said Simon, changing the topic. "You assembled a whole team of Gunmen, and in such a short time too. How'd you do it?"

"Oh, we were here and there," said Yoko. "The pilots are from all over the place, really. Kittan and his siblings had been fighting Gunmen for ages before we met up. As for the Gunmen, Leeron pieced 'em together out of the spare parts you left us. Don't say it; we're all amazed that none of it has blown up yet. Then we set off after you." Here she grimaced. "You have no idea how hard it was to track you, though. Leeron planted a basic tracking bug in the King Kamina, but it wouldn't give us more than a general direction."

"Leeron did what?" asked Simon darkly.

"Now, now," said Yoko. "If you're going to be like that, then I can't untie you."

"Please don't do that," said Simon, almost genuinely fearful. "Come on, untie me. What are your terms?"

Yoko smiled victoriously. "All right," she said. "First, you have to promise not to attack anybody."

"Deal," agreed Simon quickly.

"Not yet!" interjected Yoko. "After I let you out, we're going to call the rest of the team together, and you're going to hear us out. You're not going to run off, and you're not going to disappear again."

"All right, fine," said Simon with a hint of annoyance.

"Good," said Yoko. "I can untie you now."

Leeron returned with a bowl full of some kind of gruel and an unidentified piece of meat. He raised the spoon in his hand with a cheery smile.

"Get ready for your meal! Since you're tied down, I'll have to spoon feed you!"

"Sorry, Leeron," said Yoko. "Simon's learned his lesson, and so we'll untie him so he can feed himself."

"Awww."

"Just help me undo the straps."

Yoko did one side while Leeron did the other. Between them, Simon was soon liberated of his bonds. He sat up and rubbed his wrists, then took the bowl and the piece of meat and began eating.

Yoko watched as he scarfed down the gruel and proceeded to devour the meat. Inwardly, she cursed him for his blithe stupidity. Still, though, she couldn't help but feel glad that he was alive. For now, anyway.

When Simon was done, he turned to Yoko. "Can I meet the rest of the team now?" he asked.

"I don't see any harm in it. If you're surrounded by us, there's a reduced chance that you'll be able to get away."

Simon grimaced. Leeron laughed. Yoko led them both out of the tent. She gave a loud, sharp whistle. A small group of men gathered, the pilots from the other day. Three children also appeared. One was a young boy about the same age as Simon, while the other two were a girl and a boy no more than six.

"Do you make a habit of picking up kids?" asked Simon to Yoko.

"Hey, hey!" said the small boy, who had bright orange hair. "It's the guy from yesterday! Hey, mister!"

"Um, hi," said the girl quietly. She wore her pink hair in a small ponytail.

"Hey, can I ride in your robot?" asked the orange-haired one.

"Heck no. I don't want a snotty brat like you in my King Kamina."

"Watch your mouth!" shouted one of the men. It was the one from yesterday with the spiky yellow hair. "You owe these kids your thanks!"

"...Kittan, was it?" said Simon.

"Darn right! The great, the immortal Kittan, the greatest of all of us!"

"You'd better start thinking of a new name for your Gunman."

"Whadja say, kid?" said Kittan angrily.

"I said find a new name. You can't use that name anymore."

"And who're you to order me around? I don't care how much of a wonder child Yoko says you are, you can't boss around Kittan!"

"It's called the King Kittan, right? Well, my Gunman - the tall red one that took down an army - is called the King Kamina. You're such a blatant copycat, it's laughable."

Kittan's face turned red, and it was almost possible to see steam coming out of his ears.

"Simon does have a bit of a point," said Leeron. "It's one thing to have a nameless mecha, but it's even worse to have two with similar names!"

"You can take your King Kamina and eat it!" shouted Kittan in Simon's face. "I ain't changing my Gunman's name for no half-pint!" He stalked off.

"That's Kittan for you," said Yoko. "Word of advice? Quit deliberately trying to piss him off."

"Copycats can go to hell," muttered Simon.

"Your behaviour is...most unusual," said the last of the three children. He had black hair tied back in a ponytail with a band, leaving his large forehead bare. "I'd think you'd be more grateful to your rescuers."

"Pfeh," spat Simon. "Shut it, forehead."

"How rude. You'll never gain these men's loyalty that way."

"Is that the plan?" said Simon. "You expect me to lead these guys?"

"Essentially, yes," said Yoko. "You're the one with the biggest robot, so..."

"I see," said Simon.

He turned to the assembled group.

"You can all go home now. Go on, leave. I don't need any of you."

There was a roar of disagreement. All semblance of order dissolved into a babble of angry voices. Yoko in particular looked ready to throttle Simon, but she opted instead to patiently wait things out. Simon thought similarly, and remained silent until the group calmed down.

"I came here to kill Beastmen," announced Simon once the hubbub had died down. "That doesn't include leading a ragtag bunch of misfits. You're liabilities, all of you."

"Look who's talking!" yelled a short pilot with short-cropped orange hair. "_WE_ pulled _YOUR_ bacon out of the fire. You _need_ us, twerp."

"And who's to say we'll follow you?" said the pilot next to him, who had long dark hair. "Personally, I'd rather follow the lovely redhead over there."

"Simon, please!" pleaded Dayakka. "You can't do this alone, and you don't have to!"

"Ugh. All of you, treating me like a kid again," said Simon. "Forget it. I'm not going to be saddled with you."

"You take us on!" yelled two large, identical men with fuzzy afros. "You take us on...""...Or we pound you!"

"Please, everyone," said Yoko in a clipped voice. "Let's not get worked up. I'm getting a headache just _thinking_ about directing you in battle."

"Go ahead," said Simon impassively. "Direct." He waved a hand, and walked away. "I'm going to collect my Gunman and go finish business with Viral."  
"No you won't," said Yoko smugly. "I have the little drill you use as a key."

Simon pawed at his throat. Sure enough, the tiny golden drill wasn't there. He turned and glared at Yoko.

"Hey, I do this 'cause I care about you," she said defensively, raising her hands. "You promised not to run off, right? I didn't really expect you to keep your word, so I took this as insurance."

"Nice to know you trust me," muttered Simon. Still, he considered this for a moment, wondering whether it would be possible to force it away from Yoko and run without getting caught. Finally, he sighed. "All right, all right," he conceded. "Looks like I've got no choice. If it'll persuade you to let me go...I'll hear you out."

"All right!" shouted the twins. "We're prepared...""...To go the distance!"

"Finally," sighed Yoko. "Let's get formalities out of the way. Meet your crew, the pilots of Team Gurren."

"Team Gurren?" asked Simon suspiciously.

"Yeah, you mentioned it back in Jiha, remember? That's what we call ourselves." She motioned to the twins. "These are the twins, Jorgun and Balinbou Bakusa. They pilot the Twin Boukun, in tandem."

The twins pumped their fists in the air synchronously.

"There's also Dayakka, whom you know. He pilots the Dayakkaiser, the one with the huge rifle on its head."

Dayakka waved.

"There's Kidd and Iraak Coega, who're from another village. They pilot their own Gunmen, the Kidd Knuckle and the Ainzer respectively. Ainzer basically carries me around while I shoot things, while the Kidd Knuckle is the monkey with the guns. Say hi, guys."

Kidd waved dismissively, while Iraak smiled warmly. Most of that smile was directed at Yoko, however. Yoko glared at him, and his smile only widened.

"Zorthy Kanai is the one with the smoking habit," she continued. "He pilots the Sozoshin, which is the square-ish one. I keep telling him to put it out while the kids are around, but he never listens."

Zorthy dragged on his cigarette while eyeing Simon analytically.

"Makken is the quiet one with the buzz-cut," said Yoko, pointing. "He pilots the one with the sword, which you haven't seen yet because it's been guarding camp this whole time."

Makken scratched at his hair, muttering "Is that my only defining feature?"

"And our final pilot is Kittan, whom you've met. He's...strongheaded, like you. I swear, if we could weaponize his stubbornness..." Yoko sighed heavily. "He showed up with his sisters, Kiyoh, Kinon and Kiyal. They'd been fighting Gunmen their own way for a while beforehand. And so there you have it. Here's your team, and what you do with them is up to you. You are _not_, however, going to simply dismiss us. We'll follow you into the depths of hell, whether you like it or not."

Simon was silent, processing this new information in his mind. They'd be useful, for certain, but did he need them? What would Kamina think, if he needed others' help to fight the Beastmen? Would the benefits outweigh that sense of guilt?

"...What's with the kids?" he finally said, pointing at the two children and the boy with the ponytail. "You didn't explain them."

"They're the reason you're alive at all," said Yoko. "You see, that trap the Beastmen set for you? It was set in their village, Adai. Gimmy, Dari and Rossiu were the only ones who got out, while the rest of the village was enslaved or killed. Apparently they had a hidden passage to the surface, which the chief sent them down before he, too, was captured."

"So you saw some kids wandering around, and randomly decided to pick them up?" asked Simon derisively.

"What would you do?" shot back Yoko. "For goodness' sake, Simon. They're _kids_. I couldn't just leave them out there to die. Besides, we never would have found you if it hadn't been for them. You should be more grateful."

"Yeah, yeah," said Simon. "I get it. You're so convinced I can't take care of myself that you gather a whole team and several new Gunmen just so you can say 'I told you so'. Thanks so much."

"That's not true," said Rossiu. "I have come to know Ms. Yoko, and anything she does she does because she cares. You're letting your own pain and grief colour your perception of things. I didn't know Kamina, but-"

"Shut up, Forehead," growled Simon. "You can't know anything."

"Simon," said Yoko. "You can't seriously expect us to follow you when you're like this."

"Then don't," said Simon, throwing a hand in the air. "I don't particularly need you people following me around anyways. If you really want to do this, though, be ready to move out tomorrow morning. I'll go with or without my Gunman. Good night." And he turned and walked off, out of the camp.

"That idiot," said Yoko under her breath. "Doesn't even stick around for dinner, doesn't want the tent I brought for him."

"Ms. Yoko?" asked Rossiu. "You said that Simon was the best kid you ever knew. What happened?"

"He still is a great kid," said Yoko. "But like you said, he's seeing everything through glasses made of pain. And he's gotten so used to them, he doesn't even realize it."

"So he's useless," said Rossiu. "Deal without him. Lead Team Gurren yourself."

"But that's just the thing," responded Yoko. "I still believe in him. I think that, with Simon at the helm, we can win. But that all depends on whether or not he's willing."

It was silent for a moment. A cool breeze blew through the camp and around the gathered group.

"Well, that was interesting," said Iraak. The other members of Team Gurren had been watching silently all this time, waiting patiently to see how things would turn out. "He's an ass. But, if Yoko believes in him, then I do too."

There was a chorus of murmured consent from the others.

"Thanks, guys," said Yoko, turning and smiling at her team. "Now go get yourselves some grub. Kiyoh's on cooking duty today."

The men filed away, chatting amongst themselves. Yoko watched them go, but did not go herself, not yet. Instead she walked after Simon, looking to have a private talk with him.

* * *

The three Black sisters were busy around the campfire, cooking away at a feast for several men.

"I hate cooking duty!" complained Kinon as she stirred at a pot. "It's so hot near the fire, I feel like I'm going to melt!" She smiled mischievously and mimed melting into a puddle.

"You volunteered to help," reprimanded Kiyahl, tasting a soup and spicing it accordingly. "It was my turn to cook, but you asked to help anyways." She stretched, throwing out her chest. "It is a bit tiring, though. Maybe we should get away from the heat."

"We're not done," said Kinon quietly as she delicately chopped vegetables into thin slices. "We have to keep going, until the food's all done." She adjusted her glasses as they threatened to slip down her nose.

So the three worked tirelessly at their tasks, chopping, stirring, spicing. As they worked, some of the pilots watched eagerly. Kidd and Iraak sat together on a log near the fire.

"They're so cute, all of them!" said Kidd to his brother. "All working so hard, sweating away at the stove. Almost makes me want to help out."

"Do you work at being rude?" asked Iraak disdainfully. "A real man _would_ help out, if only to impress them. And he would find more elegant way to say that."

"Still, you gotta admit. That blonde one especially, she's gorgeous, and that rack-"

A pair of hands emerged out of the darkness behind them, and grabbed them both by the neck.

"Hands off my sisters, you two," snarled Kittan from behind.

"Yo man," said Kidd nervously. "It's cool, it's cool. All look and no touch, I understand."

"Whatever," said Iraak cooly. "Miss Yoko is the only woman in my heart."

Kittan let them both go and sat down between them on the log.

"Aw, it's all right," he smiled. "I know you guys wouldn't ever do anything with them. I'd kill you, but that's beside the point. So what's up?"

"You missed most of the meeting with our new leader," said Kidd.

Kittan frowned. "That little punk. I don't want to talk about him."

"I don't get it either," said Iraak. "I'd much rather follow Miss Yoko; after all, she's done a pretty fine job so far. But she seems intent on passing control to this kid."

"Yoko does what she likes," said Kittan. "S'long as somebody points me in the direction to charge, and there're Beastmen in that direction, then I'm fine. Making me change my Gunman's name, now that's going too far."

"We'll see what happens tomorrow," said Kidd. "Either the kid will have some sort of genius plan, which we'll follow, or we'll just charge into battle as usual. Personally, I'll place bets on the latter."

"No thanks," said Iraak. "I don't gamble, except in the arena of love. Let's just wait for tomorrow."

"But until then let's celebrate our first real victory!" said Kittan, standing and pumping his fist in the air. "To Team Gurren!"

"Yeah!" yelled the brothers, doing the same.

"Dinner's up!" called Kiyoh, wiping her forehead. "Come and get it!"

The other pilots filed in, and the festivities commenced.

* * *

Yoko found Simon sitting at the base of a lone tree beyond the edge of camp, legs crossed, eyes closed, head tilted towards the sky. He looked peaceful and serene, two things she'd never seen in him before. She approached, certain that he was already aware of her presence. Indeed he was, for his eyes opened as she drew nearer.

"Hello," he said quietly, not moving an inch.

"Hello yourself," said Yoko, dropping down to sit next to him against the tree.

"So, I was thinking."

"That's new," jibed Yoko. Simon grimaced.

"I knew you'd say that, which is why I stopped there. Anyway, I've been thinking."

Simon waited a second again. Yoko didn't add a comment, so he decided to continue.

"You, Rossiu, the guys...you may have been right. I probably should have been more grateful. I shouldn't have snapped at Rossiu, and I most definitely shouldn't have tried to send you all off."

He waited again. Yoko still wasn't commenting.

"So, I guess I'm...sorry. Especially to you, Yoko. I suppose all this ranting and raving about Kamina, nobody else believes it, and I shouldn't bother them with it, even if I do believe it. And I should really take this opportunity to get some allies. Even if it is possible to take the entire Beastman empire alone, it probably isn't the best option. So I'll lead you all tomorrow. We'll take Dai-Gunzan together."

He felt something drop into his lap He looked down, and saw his core drill glittering in the twilight. He looked up again, and saw Yoko's retreating back.

"I came to tell you off," said Yoko over her shoulder. "But, hey, looks like you figured it out yourself. Make sure you get something to eat before you go to bed."

And so ended the night of their first encounter with Dai-Gunzan.

* * *

**In re-uploading this, I realized that it was about now that I started having problems keeping my schedule.**

**I had my reasons, of course. This was also about the time I started working on Nucleotide: The Aftermath of Lordgenome, which can be found on my good friend Zaru's account.  
**


	7. Hunting the Beast

"...with a rusty butter knife!" concluded Yoko, breathing once again for the first time in several minutes. The other members of Team Gurren looked at her in awe of the truly vile string of profanities that had just exited her mouth.

"That was...impressive," said Iraak in quiet awe. The Bakusa twins were cowering in joint fear of their commander.

"It better be!" shot Yoko. "I've only been saving that one up for several months!"

"See, this is what comes from hanging around a group of sweaty men all day every day," said Leeron with a knowing tone. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Manipulative little bastard tricked me!" snarled Yoko, grinding her teeth and crossing her arms. "I thought he'd learned his lesson, so I give him his drill, and what does he do? He up and takes off!"

"Fool me once, shame on you," muttered Leeron, rolling his eyes to the sky. "Fool me twice..."

"You shut up," growled Yoko, whirling and pointing a finger at Leeron. "Everybody else, get in your Gunmen. We'll catch the little sonuvabitch before he does anything stupid. I figure Leeron's rocket boosters ought to give us enough boost to catch him halfway between here and Dai-Gunzan's last known location."

"About that," interjected Leeron apologetically, rubbing his short-cropped hair and wincing. "A little technical inspection revealed that the boosters have a 50/50 chance of exploding catastrophically. And I haven't filled them yet, teehee!"

"I want those out of Moshogun as soon as possible," demanded Makken.

"No time," grunted Yoko. "We have to catch Simon as soon as possible. Team Gurren, you are hereby ordered to get in your damn Gunmen and run after Simon. If he's already engaged the enemy, make sure he lives. If he hasn't, hunt him down and bring him to me. Anybody who presses the booster button gets what's coming to them. All right, Team Gurren, move out!"

"She's pissed," whispered Kidd as he climbed into the Kidd Knuckle.

"No shit," replied Kittan sarcastically. "Come on, we have to go show that Simon brat that you listen when you're told to do something for your own good!"

In the grey pre-dawn twilight, six hulking metal shapes rose from the valley's ground. Mechanical eyes lit up and joints creaked while motors whirred, and the squad of giant robots ran off to catch their leader as the first rays of dawn peeked over the horizon.

* * *

Chapter 7: Hunting the Beast**  
**

* * *

"Awww, they're _so_ cool!" said Gimmy enthusiastically from his perch on top of Leeron's command hut. "I wanna pilot a cool robot like that some day!"

"I'm sure you will, Gimmy," said Dari quietly from where she sat leaning against the hut and playing with her doll. "Maybe if you ask Leeron real nice, he'll build one for you."

"Did I hear my name?" called Leeron in a singsong voice as he sauntered up to the command hut.

"Yeah!" shouted Gimmy. "Can you build me a robot, Leeron?"

"Mmm, maybe," said Leeron, winking. "But maybe you could do me a little favour first?"

"Ah, um, I'll pass," stuttered Gimmy as he waved his hands to signal his refusal.

"Oh, well I was only going to ask you to help me manage the team using the computers."

"Cool!" yelled Gimmy. "I'll help with that!" He slid down the roof of the hut and landed on his feet.

"Um, can I help too?" asked Dari, hugging her doll close.

"Why, of course," said Leeron. "We'll all look after the guys together."

They entered the hut, ready to help their team from a safe place on the sidelines.

* * *

Simon sprang to the left, then the right, then up in the air. Shells flew up, down and around him as he danced his way through a concentrated barrage of artillery fire.

"What in the hell are you assholes doing?" roared Thymilph as he watched every shot miss its mark. "It's red and it's forty stories tall, and yet you still fail to hit it!"

"Sorry, sir!" apologized the officer in charge of gunners, a gorilla Beastman from the same batch as Thymilph. "We don't have a hand in it, really. We just tell the computers what to shoot at, and hope they don't screw up."

"So what you're telling me is that these idiot underdeveloped half-apes have managed to hack our systems?" rumbled Thymilph in displeasure.

"Not yet, not as far as we can tell," answered the computer officer, who was small and mousy. His long tail flicked about in agitation. "The aiming algorithms appear to be operating as normal, and there is no registered interference."

"So why the hell are we missing! They're giant pieces of metal packed with explosives, you don't even need to get that close to do any damage!"

Simon grinned from within his cockpit. He knew why they were missing. They were missing because Kamina was guiding the missiles away from him. With another hop he jumped over another shell, which exploded behind him. Silently he thanked his invisible benefactor, as another whizzed by.

But he'd done enough dancing. It was time to go on the offensive. Only, he had no idea how to tackle something that big. He could dig under and destroy it from below, but he had another plan that was slowly forming in the back of his mind that was far more fun.

"This isn't working!" growled Thymilph exasperatedly. "We're wasting ammo here! Gurdo, tell the gunners to cease fire immediately!"

"Yes, sir!" replied the gorilla Beastman. He tapped a button on his console. The relentless pounding of Dai-Gunzan's cannons stopped abruptly, leaving the morning air oddly still.

"Right!" snorted Thymilph. "I guess I'll give that idiot Viral one more chance to do this right. Send a call down to the hangars."

Viral's face appeared on the massive viewing screens. He looked tired and weary, but he was still obviously eager to please. Even the eye patch over his left eye did little to conceal his thirst for battle. He was already in the cockpit, obviously expecting this call.

"General Thymilph, I stand ready to receive your orders!" said Viral, saluting with his right hand.

"Viral, I could swear Lordgenome mixed some dog into you."

"Sir, I am only prepared to follow your commands to the fullest."

"Good," said Thymilph as he leaned back in his massive chair and steepled his thick fingers. "Then you'll be prepared to attack your good friend Simon and make sure he stays down this time."

"Yes, lord General."

"Go on, then. And don't screw up again. I'm sure you don't want a repeat of last night, and I'll demote you to boot."

Viral shivered, though it was unclear to which threat he was reacting.

Dai-Gunzan's deck opened to the grinding sound of hidden mechanisms. First a line appeared down the centre, which progressively widened until two massive doors were visible. The doors slid apart, leaving a massive rectangular hole in the deck from which exited a small army of grunt Gunmen. Last but definitely not least came the Enkidu, leaping out of the hangars with a spin and landing gracefully on the Dai-Gunzan's deck.

"All troops advance!" commanded Viral. "Charge and flank the red Gunman!"

As one the horde poured off of Dai-Gunzan's deck, roaring and cackling in insane animalistic glee. The Enkidu sprinted forward and leapt off of the prow, landing running at the front of the horde. It drew its axe-crest and raised it above its head as it charged.

"I'm coming, Simon!" screamed Viral. "Let's end this once and for all!"

"Let's go, Viral!" shouted back Simon as he smiled in anticipation. "You half-human freaks are going to taste my fury!"

The red Gunman detached its shade-sword and held it in front, spreading its legs wide and bracing itself for the impact of the massed charge. Upon both its faces it bore a large grin of insane confidence. The Beastman wave fanned out, sped up, and finally crashed over and around Simon as Gunmen went flying in all directions.

* * *

"Uh oh, uh oh," chorused Jorgun and Balinbou. "We be hearing a rumblin' and a shakin'."  
"I hear it too," added Kidd nervously. "That can't be good."

"It's better than nothing," replied Yoko from on top of Ainzer. "At least we know the idiot's still alive if he's fighting." She spat over the edge of the green Gunman. Simon's due punishment would have to wait.

"It's a little more complicated than that," said Leeron over the comm. "I'm picking up some geothermal readings. The place is a hotbed of volcanic activity. Be careful, and don't let Simon dig around too much."

"Hey, runt...uh...Rossiu?" asked Kittan. "Ain't your village built around here? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Indeed," answered Rossiu from his position behind Yoko. The seat had been added yesterday to facilitate an additional passenger for Ainzer, and Rossiu had filled it. He had his finger to his ear, activating his own comm unit. "Some things are becoming clear now. When Father Magin preached, he would sometimes refer to a cataclysmic event known as "The Fire Flood". He said it was a warning sent by the Face-Gods, and that it was then that we were told to keep our population at forty or lower. Now that I think of it, it was probably the result of an expansion operation that breached the liquid fire underneath the volcanoes. The resulting flood must have also destroyed our resources, which would be why we had to keep our population below forty. Father Magin was controlling us the whole time, and I never knew it."

"Forty, huh," mused Yoko. "That must've been terrible. Even when the poison gas hit Littner, at least we were able to go to the surface and expand there."

"What'd you do with the extras?" asked Iraak.

"We sent them Above," said Rossiu. "The excess would be chosen at random, and then sent up a tunnel I now know leads to the surface. We always thought they were being led to the Land of the Face-Gods, but I realize they must have all died up here."

"Well, they reached the Land of the Face-Gods all right," said Zorthy. "The issue is that your Face-Gods aren't that great."

"Hey, everybody!" yelled Kittan from the top of a hill ahead. "I found the runt!"

Team Gurren rushed up the hill. The squad assembled there and gazed down at the melee below.

Simon stood at the centre of a massive crowd of Gunmen. Pig faced, boar faced, frog faced, cat faced, all types were there. Simon's Gunman had its shades in hand, and it spun and whirled as it tried to fight off attacks from all directions at once.

"The idiot!" yelled Yoko "He got himself surrounded!"

"How is this kid supposed to lead us if he can't even recognize when he's being surrounded?" complained Kittan. "He probably couldn't lead his way out of a paper bag!"

"That made no sense," remarked Leeron.

Suddenly the light glinted off of a silver form. It approached slowly, from Simon's rear, strolling along as the crowd of Gunmen parted around it.

"It's that silver Gunman!" cried Kidd. "Oh man, with all those others to deal with, Simon's gonna be toast!"

"Shit!" swore Yoko as she brought her rifle up. She pulled the trigger. _Click._ Nothing happened.

"What the hell?" she swore as she checked her rifle over. She quickly found the problem: no bullets.

"I swear I loaded this thing!" she cried. She looked around at her team. "Damn it all, don't just stand there! Help the poor kid!" The Team Gurren mecha began running down the hill at a dead sprint.

Down below, the Enkidu made its first strike. Simon was able to see it and turned his Gunman in time to catch the blow, but it was vicious enough to knock him off-guard. Several grunts latched on to his arms and legs, and despite frantic attempts to shake them off, they held. Simon went down under a pile of Gunmen. Team Gurren would never make it.

Yoko frantically searched her clothes. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Even the clip she usually stored down her pants was missing. She turned around and checked all over Ainzer's top. Still nothing.

"Yoko," floated Leeron's voice over the comm. "Stop."

"I need some bullets!" replied Yoko anxiously. "I need to save Simon!"

"Calm down, Yoko," said Leeron in a very soothing voice. "I want you to concentrate on something."

"I can't do jack if I don't have any bullets!" protested Yoko.

"Just stop!" snapped Leeron. Yoko instantly stopped. It was so different, so _wrong_ for Leeron to drop his constant flirty tone.

"Now listen," ordered Leeron. "I want you to aim down that scope. Aim at the silver Gunman."

Yoko complied, raising the scope to her eye and getting a bead on Enkidu. The silver Gunman was slowly advancing on Simon's mecha, and appeared to be grandstanding. On the scope's outer boundaries she could see the red Gunman struggling to move, but ultimately failing as the grunts held him down. She almost panicked again, but Leeron's voice in her ear calmed her down.

"I want you to focus on that target. But I also want you to focus on your goal. Think about Simon. Think about how you would feel if he died."

Tears nearly fogged Yoko's vision, but she blinked them back.

"Think about how you want to save him."

The Enkidu raised its arm, preparing for the executioner's blow.

Yoko's mind, her entire essence was focused on her target, and on her purpose: saving the boy she had unconsciously decided to protect.

"Now pull. The. Trigger."

Yoko pulled.

Immediately she felt a tugging at the core of her being. It pulled, draining her, taking away power. Yet at the same time it wasn't draining at all. Beneath her hands her rifle activated, as a green light gathered at the barrel, originating at a small black object fixed in the gun's core. The rifle leaped back in her hands as it fired with a bang. And through her scope, she watched as the Enkidu's arm practically disintegrated.

Yoko was still for a moment. Then she began laughing. Laughing in joy, laughing in amazement, laughing in relief. Laughing as tears streaked down her face.

"It worked," breathed Leeron. "It actually worked."

"Leeron, what on earth did you do?" asked Yoko.

"Your gun. It works on the same principle as Simon's Gunman. I wired it so it would work, and I deprived you of your bullets in order to force you into a desperate situation."

"I'd kill you, but it worked. What does this mean to me?"

"Well, I figure since it runs off your fighting spirit, as long as you don't tire out it'll be like if you had the one-hit-kill Golden Gun and the infinite ammo cheat at the same time."

"I have no idea what you said," said Yoko, cocking her rifle once more, "but the words 'one-hit-kill' and 'infinite ammo' stuck. From now on, Leeron, this shall be known as your greatest moment ever."

"Thank you, Yoko. Now go kick some ass for me!"

Yoko was only too happy to oblige.

* * *

"And once again, we find ourselves in the same positions," gloated Viral as the Enkidu advanced upon its prey. "You, in the proper position of submission. Myself, in the position of dominance, with the puny thread of your pathetic life in my hands."

"Go to hell, Viral," growled Simon. "You can't kill me. With Kamina, I am invincible."

"You keep telling yourself that," said Viral. He raised Enkidu's arm, axe in hand.

"It will never happen," said Simon, completely devoid of fear. "I will not die. I cannot die."

"My only regret," gloated Viral triumphantly, "is that you will die without knowing that you have truly been defeated."

Viral raised Enkidu's arm higher. He would enjoy this moment. All of the pain, all of the humiliation, it had all led up to this one act of retribution. In a moment, in a second, he would have his absolution. A wild grin split his face, baring his sharp teeth. His eyes grew frenzied, and in a blaze of glory, he moved the controls to bring Enkidu's axe down upon the insolent human runt.

And suddenly, Enkidu's arm was no longer there.

The entire upper arm was suddenly nonexistent, from the shoulder to the elbow. The forearm dropped to the ground, lifeless, the axe flying free as the dead fingers released their hold.

Viral said nothing. He was speechless. Something, some higher power was obviously conspiring against him. He looked down as his axe hit the ground, bouncing twice before lying still. His eyes wandered to the left, and he beheld the King Kamina's smirking face. Laughing at him. Mocking him.

Viral turned his Gunman. He saw as the small squad of custom Gunmen bore down on them. Looking higher, he saw the green shape of Ainzer, and he caught the reflective glint of a sniper scope.

_That bitch,_ was his only thought.

The Enkidu bent down and gathered the axe with its remaining hand. The face moved, baring its teeth just as Viral did likewise. Its eyes fixated on the oncoming force of enemy Gunmen. Viral didn't even consider trying to kill Simon again. Instead, he strode forward, unhurried, unconcerned, prepared to meet his enemies head-on.

"Kill them. Kill them all," were his only commands.

His men needed no other command. Howling and screeching in a hundred different voices, they turned as one and rushed to meet their enemy.

* * *

Simon saw as the Enkidu's arm disappeared. Instantly he knew who it was, and he unconsciously smiled. He knew they'd come eventually. The question had only been when. He attributed their auspicious timing to the will of Kamina, but whether or not it was true, it didn't change the fact that they'd effectively saved his life twice.

A Gunman came into view. Stout and blue, with a design reminiscent of old-school samurai, it wielded a sword with which it diced up enemies with ease. Makken's Moshogun ran over to Simon's Gunman and began stabbing at the grunts holding him down. After the first two were impaled, the rest released their hold in order to counterattack. Moshogun simply dodged all their attacks and responded with a flurry of blows. All of the grunts exploded in a wall of fire.

Simon picked his mecha off of the ground. "Thanks a bundle," he said over the open channel. "It's about time you got here. Slick moves, by the way."

Makken was silent. However, a familiar abrasive voice was more than eager to respond over the communications.

"You little punk!" shouted Kittan. "We up an' save your ass, and you want to complain about our timing? Y'know, Miss Yoko almost went an' had a heart attack when she found out you ran off to get killed!"

"Oh, hello Copycat," said Simon. Kittan inhaled to begin another tirade, but Simon cut him off. "You know, I changed my mind the other day. I've decided that I won't make you change your Gunman's name."

"Hah!" exclaimed Kittan triumphantly. "Guess you've decided to recognize my superior piloting skills! In fact, I'm taking down the silver Gunman that gave you so much trouble even as we speak!"

"Whatever. I've decided to change the name of my own Gunman, so I don't get compared to a fool like you. Say hello to the Gurren Lagann."

"Gurren Lagann?" came Leeron's voice. "Care to explain? As if most of us didn't already know, but please explain for the sake of continuity."

"Uh...yeah," said Simon in confusion. "The top part's Lagann, and the bottom part's Gurren. Beyond that, I dunno."

"Thank you very much!" called Leeron. "Now that that's out of the way, get out of there quick, because there's another round of shells headed your way!"

Both Gurren Lagann and Moshogun hurled themselves to the ground as explosive shells rained around them.

* * *

Even with one arm, the Enkidu was the most powerful of the enemy Gunmen. Kidd and Zorthy were tag-teaming him while Jorgun and Balinbou raged through the enemy ranks.

"Take this!" yelled Kidd as he strafed Enkidu, the Kidd Knuckle's twin handguns firing wildly. The bullets pinged harmlessly off of the Enkidu's armour.

"You think those pesky things could hurt me?" said Viral quietly. The Enkidu crouched, and then suddenly it was in the air above Kidd. He hurled his Gunman to the side as Viral came crashing down, axe splitting a great fissure in the earth. Another spray of bullets bounced off harmlessly.

"Hiyaaah! Back attack!" screamed Zorthy as the Sozoshin ran up from behind. It grasped its hands together and raised them in preparation for bringing them down in an overhead hammer.

"Tch! Amateurs!" hissed Viral. The Enkidu's leg flung out, catching Sozoshin and knocking it to the side. Immediately after he performed a quick roll to the side to avoid another barrage from the Kidd Knuckle, and as he exited the manoeuvre he turned to slice at the Sozoshin as it tried to stand. Zorthy fell back in time to avoid anything more than a graze, but Viral pressed the assault with a series of kicks and swipes.

Another barrage popped against the Enkidu's back as he was in the middle of a swing. "Annoying little monkey!" grunted Viral. The Enkidu crouched, and then launched into the air in a back flip. It landed directly behind the blue monkey, and brought its axe down in a vicious arc. One of the Kidd Knuckle's legs was sawed off, and it fell to the side, Kidd screaming in terror. Zorthy returned to the fight, running up to save his comrade, but Enkidu hopped over the Kidd Knuckle and brought the Sozoshin down with a series of fast blows, severing an arm in the process. Before long he had the Sozoshin pinned to the ground with the remaining arm in the crook of the Enkidu's knee, and his axe against the cockpit, ready to end it.

"You're all pathetic," growled Viral. "None of you are worth my time. Simon is the only one amongst you who could possibly give me a challenge. Save the effort and just die."

"Ain't happening!" yelled a new voice. A yellow blur appeared from deep within the battle, and the King Kittan rammed into the Enkidu. The two mecha tumbled across the ground, the King Kittan grabbing at its adversary, while Enkidu desperately tried to knock him off while holding on to its axe, failing on both fronts.

The grappling pair rolled to a stop, with the King Kittan on top. The pointy yellow mecha pounded wildly at its opponent with its fists, while Viral tried desperately to block and parry with only one functioning arm. Finally, he managed to grab a fist as it came down. Viral twisted the controls, and the Enkidu's arm did likewise, attempting to tear off the King Kittan's arm. Kittan spat and tried to pry off the Enkidu's grip with both hands, only succeeding in being thrown off. The Enkidu flipped to its feet and ran to grab the axe where it had fallen point-first in the ground. Viral pried the axe out of the ground and spun, weapon raised to fend off any incoming blows.

Meanwhile Kittan had found a weapon lying among the wreckage of the grunts. It was one of the heavy iron batons. The King Kittan spun it in its hand, slowly walking forward across the arms and legs of fallen Gunmen.

Viral spat out a blood-covered tooth that had been knocked loose. Inwardly he cursed the humans; each time you knocked one down, another popped out to pester you. This newest one was by far the most annoying, but still no match even for the crippled Enkidu.

"Name?" said Viral tacitly.

"I'm Kittan," replied the yellow mecha with a grin, "the Great and Mighty to you. An' this is the King Kittan. I call him the King because I'm going to rule your ass!"

"Whatever," muttered Viral in an irritated tone. "You're no match for the Enkidu and my piloting skills, no matter how good you are. Your friends couldn't take me down either, and they took me two on one."

"Don't look now," warned Kittan, always with that irritating grin, "but I don't think you managed to put them out of the fight."

Viral turned the Enkidu. Sure enough, there stood the two Gunmen he had brought down earlier. The Sozoshin stood proud, carrying its severed arm as an improvised club. The Kidd Knuckle dragged itself along the ground on its one remaining leg, both handguns ready and willing to fire.

"How annoying," spat Viral. He raised his axe and pointed it at the King Kittan.

"It matters not!" he barked. "I will take you all, and I will still prevail!"

"Ya stupid furry idiot!" called back Kittan. "We're Team Gurren! You'll never put us down! No matter how many times we're knocked down, we get back up!"

The humans charged from two sides, while Enkidu stood firm, prepared to meet anything that came its way.

As they clashed there came a whistling sound. Both parties stopped mid-combat in surprise. The humans looked around frantically, trying to find its source, while Viral only opened his eyes in horror. The Enkidu hit the deck as explosions all around launched waves of dirt and rock in the air. The three human Gunmen were sent flying off across the battlefield. As his Gunman cowered in the dirt, Viral opened a channel to the Dai-Gunzan.

"Sir!" he yelled over the explosions. "It appears the humans have mastered artillery! I suggest you have the gunners calculate the barrage's trajectory and-"

"You stupid fool!" roared Thymilph, cutting Viral off. "That's our own artillery firing on the battle!"

Viral was speechless. His mouth hung slightly open, breath whistling in and out, his ears filled with the pounding of his heart as it raced in the adrenaline of combat.

"I see that stupid look on your face!" barked Thymilph. "While you were busy getting absolutely nothing done, the other Gunmen and the sniper were busy decimating our forces!"

Viral looked to his sides. Even though his Gunman was face-down, he could see Gunman parts littering the ground through the sides of the cockpit.

"You see?" said Thymilph. "I had to salvage something from this, so I ordered a full barrage on the battle! You had the humans occupied, so I was able to surprise them!"

"But sir!" protested Viral. "There are still good men out there!"

"Useless sacks of meat," sneered Thymilph. "They were all replaceable."

"But sir, _I'm_ out here!"

Thymilph sneer only widened, chilling Viral to the bone. His ears rang as he heard his commander's words.

"You, too, are replaceable. Miserable failure."

The Raging Wave cut the connection, leaving Viral speechless once more.

He looked about himself. Explosive shells rained down in all directions. Visibility was almost nothing, though he could see the dim shadows of Gunmen being torn apart, most likely his men.

He had only one thing on his mind: survival.

The Enkidu pushed itself off of the ground. Dust was everywhere, as were torrents of earth flung by the bombardment. Viral could not see, and he could not predict a safe route. On pure instinct he chose a random direction and sprinted away, just as a shell hit the spot where he had once been.

* * *

"They're shooting at their own men!" exclaimed Yoko as she saw the first wave of explosives as they rained down. "Do they have no respect for life?"

"Dear, that really isn't important right now," said Leeron in her ear. "What's important is that the men are in danger, and it's up to the women...woman to save them."

"How the hell do you suggest I do that?" snapped Yoko. "I can't see anything down there, the battleship is too far away for me to hit the cannons, and we don't even know they're alive!"

"Simon dug them a little hole and they're hunkered down there," said Leeron.

"Good. At least he's not completely stupid," nodded Yoko. "Open a channel to him for me. We need to figure a way out of this."

"No need. He's coming to you right now."

Off to Ainzer's left a small fountain of dirt erupted. Two drills broke the surface, and behind them came a small red Gunman. It was Simon's mecha, the newly renamed Lagann.

"Yoko!" came Simon's voice. The Lagann's face moved with the words, creating the illusion that Lagann _was_ Simon. "I have a plan, and I need your help!"

"Two surprises at once," said Yoko. "What do you need, Simon?"  
"I need a pilot, and I'm referring to you!" called Simon.

"Me?" said Yoko. "Why not take Iraak?"

Ainzer waved its tiny dinosaur hands.

"Iraak has his own Gunman! C'mon Yoko, help me out here!"

"I'm not going, but I can help you. Truth be told, I brought Rossiu along for this very purpose." Rossiu peeked over the edge of Ainzer's head.

"Forehead?" scoffed Simon. "Can he even pilot?"

"Did you receive any instruction?" retorted Rossiu. "I want to make my contribution to the war effort."

"Fine," relented Simon. "I'll take him. You'd best not fail, though."

"I could say the same to you," shot Yoko. "You die, and I can't yell at you." Though she was threatening, she said it with a smile.

"I'll be back," promised Simon. "And this time I mean it."

Lagann jumped up on Ainzer's back, right behind the two seats. The canopy opened and Simon pulled in Rossiu, and with a snap of the canopy closing the Lagann jumped up, fell, and drilled into the earth once more.

* * *

"Goes and renames his Gunman, and he chooses a cooler name," muttered Kittan. His Gunman's arms were crossed in sullen anger.

"What was that, Kittan?" jibed Kidd over the comm. The Kidd Knuckle was still one-legged, and it sat rather lopsided in Simon's underground hideout.

"I'm saying he's making us wait way too long!" replied Kittan. "Little bastard is probably takin' his time, too!"

"Say, I hear he renamed his Gunman," pressed Zorthy in amusement. "Could you tell us about that?"

"It's Gurren Lagann," said Makken tacitly. The Moshogun sat against the wall, sword point-down in the dirt.

"Yeah! That's the name!" fumed Kittan. "Lagann's the head part! Gurren's the body part!" He pointed at the empty, deactivated red Gunman that sat next to a hole in the wall. "Together, they're Gurren Lagann! Have you ever heard _anything_ so stupid?"

"Sounds pretty awesome to me," said Kidd cheerfully, knowingly feeding Kittan's anger. To his delight, the angular yellow Gunman turned a delicious shade of red.

At that moment, Lagann reappeared out of the hole it had dug. The drills on its arms retracted, and it panned its gaze slowly along the assembled troops.

"Kittan, you're mecha's red. Are you still trying to copy me?"

The King Kittan's crimson colour faded, but Kittan's rage was still palpable.

"Good. Now let's discuss the plan."

"Plan? What plan?" asked Zorthy. "I wasn't aware that we used plans."

"Very funny," intoned Simon. "Let's start by introducing our newest pilot. Let's all welcome Rossiu into our ranks."

Lagann opened, and the five Gunmen looked at the small boy from Adai.

"Well, what's he going to pilot?" demanded Kittan. "I sure as hell ain't giving him mine, before you ask."

"He'll be piloting Gurren," said Simon simply. One of Lagann's hands rose and plucked Rossiu up by his shirt. Rossiu yelped and kicked, and Lagann tossed him at the Gurren. Its mouth opened, and Rossiu tumbled in. The shade-sporting Gunman moved, and the eyes lit up in the presence of a new pilot.

"I see," mused Makken. "You're planning to use the Gurren and Lagann separately."

"No, I brought Rossiu along because I like him," said Simon sarcastically. "Gurren wouldn't need a pilot if I wanted to stay combined. Now all of you, go out and run interference."

"What the hell?" "You want us to go out in explosions?" "No way!" "No way!" The Twin Boukun pranced nervously.

"Shut up for a second and listen!" yelled Simon. Everyone fell still.

"I hear nothing," said Kidd.

"Exactly," said Makken. "The barrage has stopped."

"They'll be looking for us," said Simon. "You'll be expecting their fire this time, so you'll be able to dodge. I was able to do it, so you'll be able to do it. If you run off, you'll be able to draw their attention."

"What about me?" interjected Kidd. "My Gunman can't even walk."

"Good point," admitted Simon. "Rossiu, carry Kidd's mecha on your back."

"Why me?" complained Rossiu.

"You're piloting the Gurren, for crying out loud. It's probably the least damaged Gunman here."

"But what will you be doing?" asked Makken quietly. "We'll be distracting them, but what will you be doing?"

"Yeah!" added Kittan. "I object to being kept out of the loop!"

"Shut up, Kittan," said Simon dismissively. "All of you, just get the hell out there! It's not like you have anything to lose!"

"Other than our lives," muttered Zorthy around his cigarette.

Simon ignored him, and he drilled into the dirt. The Lagann soon vanished.

"Well, what now?" said Kidd.

"I say we ignore the punk and stay here!" said Kittan.

"You all listen and do as he says," came Yoko over the open channel.

"I dunno, Yoko," said Zorthy. "It's kind of dodgy."

"If you won't listen to Simon, then listen to me. I _order_ you to do what he told you. Even if none of the rest of you have faith in him, I do."

"We have faith!" roared the twins. "We have faith! We have faith!"

"We have no choice," said Makken. "We have no idea when this shelter will collapse."

"Between them, they've convinced me," said Zorthy, blowing out cigarette smoke. "How about it, Kittan?"

Kittan didn't reply. His Gunman crossed its arms tighter and looked at the ground.

"Don't I get a vote?" complained Kidd.

"Your Gunman can't even move properly," replied Zorthy.

"Alright, alright!" burst out Kittan. "Let's just do this already!"

"Good to see you being a team player," said Zorthy. "Now let's get this started.

The Sozoshin got up, and led the way out of the shelter as the rest followed. Team Gurren emerged out into the bright sunlight, ready to do anything for the sake of a plan they weren't even aware of. Kittan thought about it, and realized that it really wasn't that different from what they usually did. In fact, it almost seemed to be characteristic of the group.

"All right, let's do this!" he yelled as he came out of the shelter. The King Kittan ran forward and led the charge across no man's land, completely confident that everything would turn out all right.


	8. Taming the Beast

"All right, that should be enough," rumbled Thymilph from his throne on the Dai-Gunzan's bridge.

His lackeys were uncomprehending, however, and merely looked at him questioningly. His cousin Gurdo bore a look of idiotic stupor, while the mousy Beastman who supervised the computers twitched his whiskers. The head engineer, a crocodile-based Beastman, scratched his head with sharp claws. The rest of the bridge crew generally looked confused and frightened.

"I meant stop firing!" roared Thymilph in frustration, leaning forward threateningly. The crew jumped in fright. Thymilph mused on the prospects of shuffling up his command. The current batch of idiots was running out of steam.

"They should be ground into a fine paste by now," growled Thymilph, leaning back in his chair. "If they've managed to survive that level of firepower, then I'll be impressed."

The bridge crew returned to their tasks, but the cannons continued firing.

"Gurdo!" snapped Thymilph in irritation.

"Yes, sir!" replied Gurdo with a quick salute.

"I ordered the cannons to cease fire, did I not?"

"Yes sir, you...oh. That'd be me."

Thymilph considered slapping his face in frustration, but that would be unseemly for a man of his position. Instead, he settled for baring his teeth and snarling at his cousin as the inferior ape-Beastman went about his task.

The pounding roar of the hundreds of cannons stopped abruptly, leaving the air eerily silent. Dust from the barrage still hung thick over the battlefield, obscuring vision and rendering it impossible to see the condition of the area.

"Sir, I'm not getting any readings, friend or foe," piped up the mouse. Now there was a Beastman who knew his job. Still, it would be better if he weren't such a damn nerd. The guy barely had any muscle on him. Thymilph hated the geeks, but they were an essential part of his crew, so he postponed firing the nerd.

"Well, that's to be expected," laughed Thymilph. "None could possibly withstand the awesome might of my Dai-Gunzan!"

The crew laughed along nervously. Thymilph made a note to order them to take some remedial laughing courses.

The dust began to clear now, revealing the battered state of the field of war. The word "levelled" might come to mind, but it was entirely inappropriate due to the fact that the area had been a flat wasteland beforehand. No, the exact opposite had happened; the battlefield had gained a number of new hills and small mountains of dirt and debris. Gunman parts were strewn everywhere, almost nothing in a single piece. Mechanical arms and legs littered the landscape, some sticking up in the ground like angular, lopsided trees. Nothing could have survived.

Thymilph smiled in satisfaction. Gratuitous carnage always gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling. Probably because it reminded him of Adiane.

There was a problem, however. An itchy feeling at the back of Thymilph's skull, leaving him vaguely irritated. Well, more irritated than was normal, in any case. As his gaze panned over the landscape to find the source of this anomaly, his eye was drawn to a small mound of dirt. A hillock, if you will. This particular hillock appeared to be moving. Thymilph's eyes narrowed, and his gaze focused on it.

And, as he watched, several Gunmen emerged from it and charged haphazardly across the battlefield.

"So that's why I wasn't getting any readings," mused the mouse Beastman. "They were underground! That's a serious and easily exploitable oversight in our sensors, should probably get that-"

"All cannons! Now!" roared Thymilph furiously. "I want those human bastards to be ash on the wind within the next five minutes or I'll turn all your heads into decorative salt cellars!"

"Yes sir Lord General Thymilph!" yelled the crew. The mouse-Beastman fairly screamed it.

And the staccato roar of the cannons resumed once more.

* * *

Chapter 8: Taming the Beast

* * *

"Wait, what?" exclaimed Yoko as she observed the goings-on through her scope. Everyone but Simon was exiting their shelter and...running around aimlessly?

"You damn idiot," she cursed. Simon's plan was obviously to use them as some kind of distraction while he did...something, but he obviously hadn't thought very hard on his subordinates' welfare.

"Hmmm, interesting," crackled Leeron's voice in her ear. "I wonder what he'll do next."

"He's going to get them killed, that's what," growled Yoko. "And I can't do anything about it."

"You could radio the poor dears and tell them to get out of there."

"And they'd outrun a massive warship outfitted with enough artillery to level a mountain?" replied Yoko sarcastically. "And conveniently lead them back to our base?"

"You're so bitter, dear. You should loosen up. I could probably help you..."

"Pass. For now, find me way to help those numbskulls before they're blown to the moon."

"Well, you're in luck," said Leeron, leaning back in his chair and smiling. "I'll send Dayakka over right away."

"Dayakka?" asked Yoko in confusion. Then, "Oh, yeah. He isn't down with the others. Huh. I completely forgot."

"Don't fret, dear. It's perfectly normal. Why, it's just so hard to keep track of all of you, running around. I almost forgot about Dayakka myself, until he called me up to complain about his Gunman."

"Back up a bit," asked Yoko. "What's up with his Gunman?"

"Well, see, I made some modifications to it, and I was busy calibrating it and then he called up to complain and I told him I was almost done and then he started yelling something about the colour...oh look, he's already left. He'll be showing up shortly, see for yourself..."

Yoko heard the thumps of a Gunman's heavy tread behind her. Undoubtedly this was Dayakka, coming towards her in the Dayakkaiser. She turned around to look behind, and beheld Leeron's modifications in a mixture of shock and awe.

Physically, the Dayakkaiser hadn't changed much. The limbs and the main body were all the same as ever. However, its head-mounted cannon had been shortened and reinforced, supposedly increasing its range and power. Yoko wasn't really sure how that worked, but she assumed Leeron generally knew what he was doing. Aside from that, the Dayakkaiser was the same as always.

Well, other than the bright pink colour scheme.

Yoko had nothing to say. The Dayakkaiser's shoulders sank and its head fell in tune with its pilot as Dayakka felt Yoko's gaze upon him.

"This is so embarrassing..." he moaned. "I can't pilot a Gunman like this. Why'd you have to go and do that, Ron..."

"If you must know, I was going to paint it red in order to make it three times faster," replied Leeron. "You know, like Gurren Lagann? But then I accidentally spilled a whole bunch of white in the paint. Silly old me!"

Dayakka moaned again.

"Now don't be complaining!" chastised Leeron. "As everyone knows, pink is the colour of LOVE! Therefore, your Gunman will be imbued with the power of LOVE and, since LOVE overcomes any obstacle, your Gunman'll be unstoppable! I shall call it 'The Pink Avenger!'...Of LOVE!"

The Dayakkaiser gave Yoko a plaintive look.

"You wuss..." she muttered.

"I can't pilot this...thing," begged Dayakka. "Please don't make me."

"Fine! Fine," acquiesced Yoko as she threw her arms in the air. "I'll pilot it, you big baby."

"Thank you, Yoko!" cried Dayakka in joy. He piloted the Gunman up to Ainzer and opened the mouth, revealing the cockpit. He jumped out, while Yoko jumped in.

"Don't cry, Dayakka honey," said Leeron soothingly. "If it makes you feel better, you weren't meant to be a pilot in any case."

"What?"

"Well, you're meant to do bigger things! Much, much bigger things. Like the size of that warship over there. And it's totally not representative of anything phallic, though I'm still jealous."

"Huh?"

"Oh, forget it."

Yoko, meanwhile, was busy trying to figure out where to put her rifle. It leaned nicely against the side of the seat, but there was the danger of it bouncing around while the mecha moved.

"Oh, for goodness' sake," chimed Leeron's voice. His face popped up on the monitor.

"I installed a compartment for your rifle," he said. "Open it, it's on your left."

"A rifle compartment?" asked Yoko. She checked on her left; indeed, there was a little sign and a button. She pressed the button, and some panels slid out, revealing a rack specifically designed for her rifle.

"Why on earth did you put that in?" asked Dayakka suspiciously.

"Er, um, just in case!" answered Leeron nervously. "Or, yeah, I was going to store something else in there! Yeah."

"I have no idea what you might possibly store in there," said Yoko dryly, "nor do I ever wish to find out. Let's just see if I can do this."  
She grabbed the controls and moved them experimentally. The Gunman rose in response and stood ready to battle.

"You're a natural, Yoko!" said Leeron joyfully. "Look at you, piloting that big Gunman!"

"It's actually a lot easier than I thought it'd be," commented Yoko with a hint of pleasant surprise.

"There is definitely something suspicious going on here," mused Dayakka suspiciously.

"Oh, you," quipped Leeron. "You and your conspiracy theories. Look on the bright side; now that Yoko is off Iraak's back, he can actually do something!"

"Oh, yeah!" exclaimed Yoko. "Sorry, Iraak! I completely forgot you!"

"Thanks a lot, guys..." muttered Iraak. "Sure makes me feel like a needed member of the team here."

"Don't feel bad!" said Leeron soothingly. "I mean, Yoko, it was pretty natural to forget him. He is a pretty minor character after all."

"I heard that, Ron."

"Okay, okay, shut up," ordered Yoko through a chuckle. "Let's try out Leeron's modifications!"

A targeting reticule appeared on her screen, much to her surprise. None of the guys had ever mentioned anything like this.

"I programmed and installed it," interjected Leeron, as if he were reading her mind. "C'mon, honey, focus on helping out those big lugs on the battlefield.

Yoko ignored all extraneous thoughts for the moment and focused on the targeting system. It seemed fairly simple, though she had never seen anything of the like. Gunman piloting was supposed to be mostly intuitive anyhow, so she ignored that, too, and focused on aiming at the Dai-Gunzan.

It wasn't as if it was a tough target. What with its colossal stature, it made a rather large black blob even at a distance. The trouble was with the range. Now that Yoko found herself in possession of a cannon larger than herself and Dayakka together, she had no problems hitting it.

The view zoomed in, giving her a lovely view of Dai-Gunzan's impressive array of weapons. They were firing nonstop, chucking yet more explosive ordnance at the Team Gurren mecha. Yoko's obvious goal was to neutralize the cannons in order to increase her friends' chances of survival.

Yoko moved the reticule around, finally locking in on a rather large cannon on the main deck. That would do for her target. She had no idea how the aiming program worked, specifically whether it adjusted itself to account for wind and distance, but there was a fairly easy way to find out.

She squeezed her left hand around the control handle. The remodeled Dayakkaiser's cannon fired with a large booming sound, expelling the massive shell with incredible power.

* * *

The Dai-Gunzan rocked slightly as one of the massive deck cannons exploded in a shower of flame and broken metal.

"What the hell are you assholes doing?" yelled Thymilph in anger. "How dare you mishandle my Dai-Gunzan like that? What sort of idiot do you have to be to blow up the damn cannons on a FULLY AUTOMATED SYSTEM?"

"Uh, sir, that wasn't us!" explained the mouse-nerd-computer geek. Thymilph made a mental note to learn the nerd's name later, so he could give orders more efficiently.

"Well what the hell was it?" roared Thymilph. The humans were already testing his patience, and this latest interference was threatening to snap it entirely.

"I can't verify it for sure," replied the nerd, twitching his whiskers, "but I think it'd be safe to say that it's the sniper."

"Impossible!" scoffed Thymilph. "Give me a visual, I need to see exactly how she's able to hit us from way over there!"

The nerd-mouse typed in a few commands and did some furious clicking with the selection device. A window popped up on the screen. There was the green mecha, standing there, but devoid of its regular passenger. It didn't seem to carry any weapons, and Thymilph dismissed it as harmless. His eyes narrowed, however, at the new Gunman that stood next to it. It was bright pink, and sported a massive cannon from its head.

"Looks like the little bitch has got herself a Gunman," he growled in annoyance.

"You want me to order her fragged?" asked Gurdo.

"...No," rumbled Thymilph with a faint smile. "Cease fire and advance Dai-Gunzan! All ahead full!"

"Wait, what?" asked the mouse-nerd incredulously. "We could destroy her from a distance and you want us to get _closer?_"

Thymilph frowned at him, and the nerd shrank back into his seat. No use learning his name now. The fool would be executed once they returned to Teppelin.

"I wish to deal with her in person," growled the Raging Flame. "I wish to hear her scream and wail as I slowly rip her apart. I want to see the fearful tears in her eyes as I break every bone in her body, one by one. You will order the technicians to prepare the Byakou, and then you will shut up. Am I clear?"

The mouse-nerd offered a mumbled "Yes, sir" and radioed the Gunman technicians. Thymilph sat back in contentment. Yes, he'd have to find another computer geek to replace the current one, but he was going to have some proper action soon! Of course, his fun would be short lived as he had a tendency to break his playmates rather quickly. He'd make the best of it all the same.

His thoughts were interrupted, however, by a low rumbling sound. The rumbling was not the sound of the engine or the steady tread of his warship, to which he was accustomed, but instead a foreign kind of rumble that pricked at his near-deaf ears.

"Somebody here better be hungry," said Thymilph in his own familiar rumble.

"Ahaha...funny, that," chuckled the mouse-nerd insincerely. "You know, I always found it funny that the ship was equipped with seismographs, when we'd obviously be setting them off with our own activities. But you see, this area is practically riddled with volcanoes and-"

"Quit your babbling and do something you twit!" roared Thymilph. "It's either an eruption or an earthquake, and an earthquake will cause an eruption!"

The bridge crew was immediately embroiled in a flurry of panicked activity. Orders were sent out to all corners of the ship in preparation for the quake. Even as this was being done, Thymilph could feel a slow shuddering beginning.

"Brace the ship!" he ordered. "Let it fall over and I'll dunk you all in the lava in such a way that you'll still be alive for me to tie up over a vent of noxious gases!"

The shuddering and the rumbling continued to rise in intensity. Thymilph could sense its nature now. It was no quake, only an eruption. The shaking was still intense, and the bridge crew quickly strapped themselves into their seats. Thymilph did no such thing. Restraints were for weaklings. He had every intention of riding this out and then brutalizing the one he knew was responsible.

* * *

It wasn't that hard for Simon to figure out how to achieve the effect he desired. He had an almost uncanny sixth sense when it came to digging, showing him the best ways through layers upon layers of rock and earth. He dug around the area, carefully planning. He was in luck; the volcanic system was just waiting to burst, and it would take little prodding to make it do so. Hell, he was surprised it had even held up this long, what with the Dai-Gunzan's constant artillery barrages.

A little digging here, a little work there...Simon briefly thought about how the others were doing. It mattered little to him at the moment, however, and they soon faded from his mind. He didn't think about whether or not what he was doing would affect them. The thought never even came close to his mind.

Finally, his work was complete. He drilled towards Dai-Gunzan, aiming towards a place slightly behind it. The rumbling was already starting; the volcanoes would soon erupt, providing the perfect distraction for what Simon had in mind. It briefly occurred to him that he really hadn't needed the rest of the team in the first place for this plan. They were prancing about as living targets for no real reason.

Simon hardly cared. Things were about to get really messy, and all his concentration was focused on his goal.

The rumblings intensified. Simon knew that it was time to make his move. Lagann turned, heading for the surface. It broke surface behind the Dai-Gunzan just as the first volcanoes erupted, and sailed skyward as Simon screamed his lungs out in a fury of emotion.

"All right!" he yelled. "You Beastmen down there! I've decided to liberate that battleship from you!"

"And how do you plan on doing that?" yelled back Thymilph, standing from his chair despite the continued tremors. "I'll never yield my Dai-Gunzan to you! It's bad enough I lost the Enki; I won't allow any more humiliation from you humans!"

"Screw you!" yelled Simon as the Lagann began its downward arc. "In fact, that's exactly what I'll do! Eat this! FORCED COMBINING!"

Lagann transformed into drill form. It dropped, at first slowly, then faster as gravity began taking its toll. Simon screamed in the heat of the moment as he prepared for the deathblow.

"As if!" snorted Thymilph, falling back into his chair. A set of controls identical to a Gunman's folded out of the ceiling, stopping at Thymilph's sides. He grabbed them and pulled them back in one swift motion.

Dai-Gunzan jerked backwards.

Instead of hitting its intended target at the warship's crown, Lagann nicked the side and continued tumbling down. It hit the deck headfirst instead of drill-first, bouncing, morphing out of drill mode and landing on its face.

"Bwahahaha!" chortled Thymilph. The Dai-Gunzan's giant face mimed the action slowly, mouth opening and closing.

"So much for your brilliant plan!" mocked the Eastern General. "You're completely at my mercy now!"

Lagann got to its feet and pointed straight at the General.

"As if!" countered Simon. "I'm standing right on top of you! You can't risk using your cannons!"

"Oh, you have no idea how many times I've heard that," said Thymilph with an evil smirk. He twisted his controls.

The massive hands rose up from where they had been hanging at Dai-Gunzan's sides. Simon's mouth formed a stunned "O" before a massive fist came crashing down on Lagann. Lagann bounced in the air before the other hand caught it.

"I'm going to enjoy this," hissed Thymilph. "You've been a thorn in my side for too long."

"Go to hell!" spat Simon. "If hell hasn't spit you out already!" His Gunman stuck the finger in the general location of Dai-Gunzan's bridge from where it was trapped in the massive mechanical hand.

"I so enjoy that spirit of yours," complimented Thymilph. "I'm almost tempted to let you go just to see if you could put up an enjoyable fight."

"Go ahead," sneered Simon. "I'll show you what I'm made of!"

"Sadly, I'm not that stupid," sighed Thymilph. "Now that's just too bad, isn't it?"

The hand changed its hold on the Lagann, pinching it between the thumb and index finger. The other hand poked at the miniature Gunman and played with the limbs. Simon swatted at the intruding finger to little success.

"Your Gunman is rather cute," mocked Thymilph. "So tiny and round. I may just make you a gift for my sweet Adiane."

The hand's grip shifted again. It held Lagann in a tightly balled fist.

"But I think I'll just crush you like an egg!" smiled Thymilph as he tightened his grip on the controls.

The fist began tightening, squeezing on Simon's Gunman. Simon sat back in his seat, mind working furiously. There was a way out of this. There was always a way. He could break free.

A crack appeared in the canopy, startling him. Another and another appeared. Panic began seeping in at the corners of his mind. If only his Bro were here. Kamina would know. Kamina always knew. Kamina couldn't possibly save him this time, Simon knew that somehow. If only he knew. If only he had his drill.

He sat up in realization. Of course. _His drill._

His eyes shone with determination, and the green gauge rose in response. Lagann's legs folded up and disappeared inside the main body, and were replaced by a massive drill. It began spinning, slowly at first, but gradually speeding up.

The Dai-Gunzan's hand was mangled as Simon drilled his way out, landing once more on the deck.

"Insolent brat," growled Thymilph as he observed the ruined appendage.

"Nothing you have is strong enough to defeat my drill!" cried Simon. He rushed forwards across the deck.

Thymilph brought down the other hand, this time aiming simply to smash Simon flat. It pounded down on the deck, missing by a hair. Simon put Lagann into high gear, readying for the jump he was about to make. Dai-Gunzan's remaining hand lifted, and prepared to come down again.

"Didn't you learn the first time?" smirked Simon. "You can't stop...my DRILL!"

He summoned a drill on each arm and brought them in front as he jumped, the springs activating underneath Lagann's feet. He rose forward, crashing into and through the massive hand, continuing his arc, which would take him back to the Dai-Gunzan's head.

Instead, Simon found himself falling short. The hand had slowed him down, and his arc would instead take him straight into the Dai-Gunzan's face.

He briefly considered activating the thruster, but shrugged and decided not to. He brought up the two drills in front again and brought them up to full speed.

Lagann crashed through the bridge windows. Shards of glass flew everywhere, slicing into several of the crew. Those still capable jumped out of their seats and groped for firearms. Thymilph himself leapt out of his throne and roared as the impudent human pup desecrated his sacred vessel.

Lagann landed heavily, its twin drills retracting. It skidded to a halt and stood there, glaring at the Eastern General.

"You little bastard," spat Thymilph in a low growl.

"Always happy to deliver," replied Simon. The canopy opened, letting Thymilph look upon his adversary for the first time.

"You're even younger than I expected," remarked Thymilph. "You display amazing combat ability for one your age."

"Thanks," smirked Simon. "Too bad I never got to see yours."

He created another two drills.

"You'll be dying here."

"I wouldn't count on it," said Thymilph with a smile. He took a step back, and reached a hand for his massive war hammer.

"Go ahead, pick it up," said Simon, nodding to Thymilph's weapon. "It won't make a difference."

"Will it?" replied Thymilph. His face was stone still, and his body was rigid. If his lieutenants didn't know any better, they would guess that he was nervous.

Thymilph reached out and grasped the handle of his massive iron war hammer. With a grunt he lifted it and brought it around to grasp it with both hands. It was Thymilph's signature weapon, always present wherever he was. The head was solid metal, weighing at least a metric tonne. Thymilph was the only one capable of lifting it.

The aforementioned General hefted his weapon and eyed his opponent intensely.

"Make your move, runt," he snarled.

Simon closed the cockpit and aimed his drills at the General, accelerating their rotation to maximum speed. He rushed forwards, screaming wordlessly, prepared to cut straight through the massive ape-Beastman as if he was a particularly red piece of soft butter.

Thymilph swung his war hammer with almost terrifying ease. It arced out with incredible speed, intercepting Lagann in mid-flight with a mighty clang. Simon was flung uselessly into the wall as his ears were set ringing. Lagann bounced off the wall and rolled back to the centre of the chamber, drills slowing to a stop.

"AGH! Damn!" cursed Simon. He brought the Lagann back to a stand, looking around wildly for the General.

But Thymilph had begun his escape. The throne had been pushed aside, revealing a sliding-door elevator behind it. The doors were already closing, and Thymilph sneered through the ever-shrinking opening. The doors snapped shut.

Simon moved to drill through the door, but was stopped by a spanging sound behind him. He turned in his seat to look out the rear. A mouse-Beastman was standing there, gun in hand, pointed at the Lagann.

At this example the rest of the bridge crew pulled out their sidearms and began firing wildly at Lagann. The shots bounced off harmlessly against the metal hide.

"Damn annoying bugs..." muttered Simon. It would be a pain in the ass to take them out one by one. If only he could kill them all at once...

He gripped the controls. Why couldn't he? His drill was limitless! He pulled on his goggles as the green gauge spun. He was Simon the Digger! He was blessed by Kamina! Who the hell did they think they were, trying to hurt him with their measly little guns?

The gauge rose higher and higher as Simon's emotions grew hotter and hotter. He would kill them all at once. It would be nothing. It would be like crushing ants under his foot.

Drills shot out of Lagann's body. They were long, thin drills, growing all over the mecha's hull, on the arms, the legs, the head. There was one drill for each member of the bridge crew, and with blinding speed they all found their mark. A dozen Beastman corpses slammed into the wall, pierced through the neck.

Simon laughed, filled with a strange sensation caused by how frighteningly easy it had been. His mind reeled for a moment as he came just slightly aware of the power he possessed.

The sudden appearance of a flashing light drew his attention. A message had popped up on his screen.

FORCED COMBINING? Y/N

Simon grinned wickedly. This was what he had been waiting for.

* * *

Thymilph stomped through the halls towards the hangars, war hammer in hand. He was very annoyed, and therefore very dangerous. Nevertheless, his booming tread drew the attention of several officers.

"My lord?" queried a wolf-Beastman that had emerged to walk alongside him. "What is the matter?"

"Have you been under a rock for the last three hours?" growled Thymilph. "We only had a major battle with the humans, leading to a direct confrontation with their leader, who crashed into my throne room, attacked me, and has likely killed my command staff!"

"Uh, yes, I did notice the alarms," answered the junior officer timidly. "Ah, I'm just startled that you're here and not up there, uh, presumably winning."

"I'm not up there because I'd get my ass handed to me!" spat Thymilph. "He's got some sort of miniature Gunman that can summon weapons from out of thin air! I managed to escape, but if I had a drawn out fight with him, I'd probably-"

Thymilph was interrupted by a sudden shift in the ship's movement, briefly throwing him off-balance.

"What the hell is going on up there?" he roared.

"Sir, if I may," said the wolf-Beastman coolly. "I'd guess that the enemy has somehow taken control of the Dai-Gunzan. He's likely shifting its course."

"SON OF A BITCH!" raged the Raging Flame. He slammed his hammer into the floor, causing a small, localized quake on the ship.

"I'll get that little runt," he growled. "I'll tear him to pieces for defiling my beautiful Dai-Gunzan!"

"Should I send word to prepare the Byakou?" asked an engineer who popped out of the shadows.

This seemed to calm Thymilph down. He smiled coldly.

"Yes, you should," he said calmly. "I'll be looking forward to testing the human's fighting skill. This should be an interesting battle."

He continued his thundering march down the hall.

* * *

A command prompt registered new input. The Y blinked once, twice, thrice, before the textbox closed as the screen filled with green bars.

A dozen corpse-laden drills spun quickly, dislodging their grisly burdens as they did so. All of a sudden they halted their rotary motion, making a thunking sound as though locking into the wall.

Simon continued smiling grimly.

His spiral gauge rose, and as it did so, his Gunman glowed green with power. An almost tangible aura grew around the miniature mecha, bathing the area in emerald light. If the Beastmen were alive, they would almost certainly be on their knees under the pressure of his presence.

Streaks of green formed at the bases of the drills. They grew slowly, reaching outward, spiralling around the drills in a pattern similar to that on the drills themselves. They grew until they reached the wall, at which point they snapped onto the drills and pierced the inches-thick metal of the walls.

Things began to change. Sockets grew out of the metal of the walls, encircling and embracing the invasive drills. The drills could now spin easily again, injecting more and more of the green power. Soon the ship was saturated with it, invaded with it, as a virus takes over its host. The tendrils set themselves in the computers, the cannons, the engines, in the very frame of the ship. Within moments, the entire ship was linked to Simon.

The ceiling warped and folded, and a portal opened to the sky, now the dull grey of twilight, tinged with red from the erupting volcanoes. Simon looked up and saw this, and knew what had to be done.

He squeezed the controls gently, and his mecha ascended, trailing the drills behind like massive mechanical tentacles, rising through to the open air. It did not emerge fully, however. Instead, it halted partway, continually linked to the behemoth warship. The final adjustments were made, and the steel hull warped around it, creating a perfect seal, locking the mini-Gunman in place.

Simon sat perched atop the Dai-Gunzan, his Gunman poised as an oddly disproportionate head for the massive machine. He had complete and total power over it. With a thought Simon ceased the titan's tread, gigantic feet stomping to a halt, the tremors from its passage fading away.

As the volcanoes continued their rain of fire, Simon looked at what he had wrought.

And he was damn well pleased.

"Listen up, all you filthy half-human, half-animal pieces of shit!" he roared. His voice was magnified by Lagann, and then magnified again by the Dai-Gunzan's massive sound system, elevating his announcement from a passionate shout to an earth-shaking declaration of power.

"This hunk of metal is now MINE!" he continued. "And by extension, it is now KAMINA'S! Through his generosity I have been able to seize this ship from you, and thus I dedicate it to him! You are all nothing! Less than that! I have no word for how low you are to me! I can and will eradicate every one of you bastards from the face of the earth! In Kamina's name!"

He crossed his arms, preparing for the next burst of shouting.

"And now that this Dai-Gunzan is mine, I'm gonna rename it! Behold before you! The DAI-GURREN!"

Simon stopped to breath, panting in excitement. As the buzzing faded from his hearing he began to hear muted cheering.

He turned his head. Off in the distance, a small group of Gunmen were pumping their fists and shouting.

Suddenly the shouting was right in his ear. He winced as his radio was brought back online, perhaps as retribution for having turned it off in the first place.

"Wow! What a show! Nice steal, Simon!" congratulated Kidd.

"I thought you weren't gonna come through for a second there!" joked Dayakka. "But you ended up doing better than I could ever imagine!"

"Tell those Beast-Bastards how it is!" crowed Kittan. "That's what I'm talking about, taking their ship right out from under them! You ain't half bad, kid!"

"Shut up, shut up!" snapped Simon. The cheers and commendations died off. He sighed and rubbed his eyes as a bit of the adrenaline wore off. Taking over the ship had exhausted him somewhat.

There was a quieter voice in his ear now.

"I never got the chance to be properly pissed at you," said Yoko evenly. "You know how much shit I went through to pull your ass out of the fire, again? You know how I felt when I trusted you, and you ran off? You're such a-"

"Hold it," interjected Simon. "I've already be called every name under the Moon by you. You'd better have invented a new dirty word, or else I'll just be bored again."

"...Hero." finished Yoko. A screen opened up on Simon's monitor. Yoko was smiling.

"I'm still pissed," she said. "But at the moment, it's kind of drowned out by the sheer happiness of coming into possession of our own humongous battleship. I'll get back to the anger later, I promise."

Simon was surprised. He had expected to continue being irritated with the overbearing redhead. And yet, he found it hard to be irritated at the moment. Maybe it was fatigue, maybe it was adrenaline. But he found himself smiling wryly, just a little.

All of this was cut short as a beam of sapphire blue sliced through the deck of the newly-named Dai-Gurren.

* * *

Yoko looked and saw the small, wry smile on Simon's face. It warmed her heart to see him smile again. She hadn't seen that smile since she first met him, in fact. When he was with his bro...

All of this was interrupted as a massive pillar of blue flame erupted from the deck of the hard-won Dai-Gurren.

"What the fuck was that?" yelled Yoko in panic. Static had replaced the image of Simon.

"I'm not sure!" cried Leeron. Another window opened, this time depicting the mechanic as he struggled with various consoles.

"Well, find out!" ordered Yoko anxiously. "And what happened to my link with Simon?"

"It's not us this time!" replied Leeron in between bouts of frantic clicking and typing. "Something's blocking us intentionally! I don't even have status readings from any of them! Presumably you're far enough back that you're unaffected!"

"And me!" piped up Iraak.

"Can it!" snapped Yoko angrily. "Your Gunman doesn't even have any weapons! It can't even throw a decent punch! You're useless!"

"Well excuse me if Leeron built Ainzer stupid..." grumbled the pilot.

"Don't forget you're piloting my Gunman," added Dayakka. "Dayakkaiser-"

"It's the Yoko M Tank now," quipped Leeron. "We decided on it earlier."

"Er, okay. The 'Yoko M Tank' or whatever has a zoom function. Actually, it's been modified for sniping, so you should have a scope function unless Leeron seriously screwed up."

Yoko felt a sudden and profound urge to smack her face in stupidity. She pragmatically ignored it and pulled up the scope function.

"Wow, clouds of smoke and debris," she said sarcastically as she searched for some recognizable form among the fumes now billowing from the gaping hole in Dai-Gurren's deck.

"Finally got some readings!" announced Leeron. "You aren't going to like this."

"Too late," muttered Yoko. "I see it already."

The smoke had begun to thin as the Dai-Gurren's automated systems kicked in to dampen the flaming mess that had been the hangar. Through her scope, Yoko observed as a new Gunman was revealed.

This Gunman was unlike any other they had seen before. It was similar in scale to the Enkidu, but the design was very different. The core was bright silver, and was thin and angular. The arms jutted out from the body, and were adorned with massive blue triangular pauldrons. The lower arms were adorned with similarly shaped guards painted in the same style. The legs also began with blue-painted triangles, and tapered down to thin and well-designed legs. It carried a long Gunman-sized halberd, which it had propped over one shoulder. Its head was small and triangular, sticking out in front of the Gunman's main body

"What do you have on this guy, Leeron?" asked Yoko quietly.

"It's not in any databank, meaning it's a custom. My sensors aren't able to pick up much, but if you've got a custom, it's piloted by an ace. And the best pilots always get the best mecha."

"Then I'd better take this bird down quick."

Yoko pulled the trigger, sending a shell hurtling towards the strange, angular Gunman.

It seemed to hear something, then turned and swung its halberd with almost nonchalant disinterest. There was a pair of explosions as the shell was sliced in two, mid-flight.

"Holy shit," whispered Dayakka.

"I hope Simon can take this guy," prayed Iraak fervently.

* * *

Thymilph happened to be wondering something similar.

He sat in his seat, hands on the controls, wondering whether or not the human runt would be able to put up a good fight.

"Did you like my Condemn Blaze?" he yelled out. "Did you enjoy that display of my Byakou's awesome might?"

"So sorry, I completely forgot about you," called back Simon. "I left you alive, didn't I?"

"Like a filthy human could ever kill me!" chortled Thymilph. "Now hand back my Dai-Gunzan!"

"The Dai-Gurren is mine now!" yelled Simon. "It'll serve me and my Bro for the rest of eternity!"

"Oh yes, that Kamina guy," said Thymilph with an unpleasant sneer. "Paying service to a dead man. Absolutely disgusting."

"Kamina is the greatest and I won't let you say otherwise!" snarled Simon.

"There we go!" smiled Thymilph. "That's the kind of rage I'm looking for, come on kid, show me your best!"

"I don't even need my best!" yelled Simon. He released his hold on the controls for a moment and cracked his knuckles. Oddly enough, the Dai-Gurren did likewise, going so far as to regenerate both hands in order to do so.

"Yes, this is good!" hissed Thymilph. He raised his voice to shouting level again.

"Face it, punk!" he shouted. "Your Bro or whatever is dead! He's dead because he couldn't cut it!"  
"You can't-"

"He died against one of my underlings, right? The same kind of underling you slaughter with ease!"

"No, he's-"

"On the surface, if you can't cut it, you die! That's what happened to your Bro! Face it, you're a thousand times better than him!"

"I-"

"Forget that pathetic loser and FIGHT ME ALREADY!"

Simon didn't even try to reply with words. Instead, he resorted to a wordless scream. To emphasize his point, he slammed the controls forwards and sent one of the Dai-Gurren's massive fists flying at the floating Byakou.

Thymilph didn't even flinch. His halberd lit up with the same sapphire light from earlier, and he swung it around. It sliced straight through the building-sized fist like it was nothing. The arm itself split around the Byakou. It then levelled its spear at the shoulder joint.

"Condemn Blaze!" yelled Thymilph, and the sapphire light surged forward. It cut a path through part of the arm and sliced through the Dai-Gurren's shoulder, shearing off the entire limb. Massive hunks of burnt and smouldering metal crashed down, some slamming into the deck, some hitting the ground and raising enormous clouds of dust.

"I told you to bring your best, boy!" called Thymilph. "If you can't do better than that, you're worth even less than that dead sap you keep harping on about!"

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"

Simon swung the other arm. Thymilph treated it the same as the first. The severed limb flopped to the ground uselessly.

"You're no good!" crowed Thymilph. "If you're no better than this, than you deserve to die like that shitty excuse for a man! Kami-tard, or whatever!"

Simon screamed again.

"Oh, I'm so scared. Did you learn this one from your brother? Was this how he screamed when he died?"

Simon's scream abruptly cut short. There was a moment of silence. Then, a transmission over Team Gurren's closed communications channel.

"Forehead. Get your ass over here."

Rossiu was stunned when he heard it, after hearing a good deal of nothing for so long. The Gurren shifted the Kidd Knuckle on its back, and Rossiu responded.

"Simon? What the hell is going on up there? All I can see is flashes of blue and-"

"Shut the hell up and get your damn ass over here!"

"Simon, I don't know, I've got Kidd here and I need to know what's going on."

"I need the Gurren to fight this guy, all right? Toss Kidd in a ditch somewhere and move your ass! It's not like there's any danger any more!"

"I don't understand, you're in control of a massive battleship. Why don't you use the cannons or something?"

"CUT THE CRAP, FOREHEAD!" yelled Simon, stunning Rossiu once again.

Then, quieter: "This bastard made it personal."

Rossiu spent a moment going over his options. Eventually he sighed and gave in. With a twist of the controls, Gurren dumped the Kidd Knuckle unceremoniously on the ground.

"Whoa, what the hell?" grunted Kidd. "You could make it at least a little gentle!"

"I'm sorry," muttered Rossiu.

The Gurren turned and sprinted off towards the Dai-Gurren.

* * *

Yoko peered through the scope at what was going on.

"This isn't good," she muttered. "That guy cut through the arm like...like..."

"Like sarcasm through bullshit?" offered Leeron helpfully.

"...Like a bullet through water," finished Yoko. "I don't know if we stand a chance against something like that."

"Of course we don't!" chirped Leeron. "Why, that guy's more overpowered than Viral was when he showed up with his Charged Particle Cannon!"

"Viral? Was that his name?" queried Yoko. "And a 'Charged Particle Cannon'? How do you know all this? I never heard anything about it from Simon!"

"Oh, I heard about it here and there," answered Leeron vaguely. "But, really, we wouldn't stand a chance!"  
"That's not...wait, 'wouldn't'? What do you mean?"

"He means _we_ wouldn't have a chance," interjected Dayakka, "but Simon would."

"But of course!" quipped Leeron. "Haven't you noticed? Simon's capable of just about everything with that _fabulous_ drill of his!"

"That doesn't mean we're useless!" protested Iraak. "Let me at him! I'll show him how far my love for Yoko will go!"

"Oh, it's the weaponless one," said Leeron snidely. "I forgot about you again."

"I'll show you how much punch my Ainzer packs!"

"Dear, I'm sorry, but you're no match for Simon's magnificent drill. Give it up."

"Oh, shut up," snapped Yoko. "You're giving me a headache. Just outfit the Ainzer with a massive cannon or something."

"Okay," agreed Leeron. "But, just saying, it won't cure his condition."

This flew right over Yoko's head. She was pretty used to it by now, having lived with Leeron most of her life. Iraak seemed to understand, however, and had sunk into sulky silence. Though Yoko was still unsure what it meant, at least the two had shut up.

"What about the others?" she asked Leeron. "Have you managed to regain communications?"

"Unfortunately, no," replied Leeron plaintively. "The nature of the jamming is strange. It's like there's a wall our transmissions bounce right off of. But my observations have led me to conclude that short-range communication within the barrier still functions. Strange. You'd think a total lockdown of all communications would be more effective than this. Still, I commend them for figuring out how to make it possible in the first place."

"Enough waxing poetic about the enemy's vastly superior technology," ordered Yoko. "I need to send a message to the guys inside."

"What is it?" asked Iraak eagerly.

"To stay out of Simon's way while he fights that beast."

"No problem, ma'am!" said Iraak. He gave a small salute. Ainzer tried to do the same, but stopped when it realized its arms were much too short for that.

"Wait, I-" started Yoko.

But Iraak had already run off.

"Don't fret, dear!" said Leeron consolingly.

"Yeah, Yoko," added Dayakka. "It's not like they're in any danger now. Simon's neutralized the warship, and he's got the enemy occupied."

"Yes, there's just the massive collateral of two humongous mecha fighting!" said Leeron cheerily.

"...You aren't helping," said Dayakka in a flat tone.

* * *

"So what are you going to do?" asked Thymilph. "Don't worry, I have all day. I mean, it's not like I can't kill you at any time I want."

Simon gripped the controls. He was very, very angry.

Lagann popped out of the Dai-Gurren's top, re-grew its legs, and landed on the deck. It stared up at the Byakou, which continued floating idly.

"Oh, so that's it?" commented Thymilph. "You'll fight me one-on-one? Isn't that how that Kamina idiot died? Trying to take on a Gunman on his own?"

"Shut it," hissed Simon as Lagann grew new drills on the ends of its arms. He crossed them and stared down the Byakou.

"Let's just get to the part where I kill you, okay?"  
Thymilph sniffed in disdain. He pointed his halberd at the tiny Gunman.

"Condemn Blaze," he said dryly.

There was a blast of azure light, and the deck exploded in flames and flying pieces of metal.

Out of the smoke burst an angry Lagann, drills pointed at the Byakou.

"Pfeh," scoffed the Eastern General. He gripped his halberd in both hands, swung, and smacked Lagann back into the deck.

"This is pathetic," spat the ape-Beastman. "Come on, I was looking forwards to this! Where's all that strength gone?"

Simon replied by making Lagann rise to its feet again.

"At least you're persistent," acceded Thymilph. "I guess I'll have fun smacking you around a bit."

"Simon!"

It was Rossiu. Simon sighed angrily. Why had it taken him so long?

"Up here already, retard!" called Simon.

"I don't think I can make it..."

"Backup?" said Thymilph amusedly. "How quaint. But I don't think so, kid."

He turned and regarded the Gurren over the side of the Dai-Gurren.

"Wait, this is familiar..." mused Thymilph. Then his eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers.

"Of course! The reports always showed you as being much larger! I'll bet you combine with this unit!"

"Damn, you figured out my plans," said Simon sarcastically. "Doesn't change the fact that you're screwed."

"Am I?" asked Thymilph slyly. "What if I destroy your companion right now?"

"Uh, wait..." stammered Rossiu.

Thymilph pointed his glaive at the Gurren.

"Shit," whispered Rossiu.

"Condemn...Blaze!"

The azure beam streaked out again. It rushed towards the Gurren, blinding fast. Rossiu closed his eyes in preparation for death.

But the beam never hit. There was a thud, and a crash. Rossiu opened his eyes.

Lagann was on top of the Gurren, blocking the beam with its drills.

"Shit. You had to freeze up, didn't you?" grunted Simon. His drills were spinning at full, splitting the beam in front and sending the energy hurtling into the ground to either side.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Get out of my goddamn Gunman."

"Wait, what? You're asking me to-"

"Get out!" yelled Simon.

Lagann's feet turned into miniature drills and dug themselves into Gurren's head. Rossiu found himself falling backwards. Were there had once been a seat there no longer was. He continued falling...

...And fell straight out of the back of Gurren, hitting the ground with a thud.

"Run, dammit!" yelled Simon. "Not that I'd care if you're killed, but I'm going to have to stop soon and transform, and you won't like it if you're crushed by flying pieces of Gunman!"

Rossiu shut up and ran, nearly tripping over his feet as he went.

"You sent your companion off alone?" sneered Thymilph. "He could very well be killed."

"Didn't I just get through with saying I don't care?" snapped Simon. "Besides, he'd be throwing me off. I need to concentrate on dealing...with YOU!"

The drills on Lagann's arms disconnected and rocketed forwards of their own accord. They traveled upwards, against the blue beam that was the Condemn Blaze, splitting the beam in half along the way. They continued until they smashed into the halberd, sending its aim veering off course, carving a long rift in the landscape before Thymilph ceased fire.

"Yes! This is good. I like this!" said Thymilph.

"Just wait and you'll get plenty more!" snarled Simon.

Lagann's legs disappeared, to be replaced by a drill larger than a man. This drill spun and dug straight into Gurren's body. It dug until it was completely rooted in the main body, and then stopped, locking into place. As Thymilph watched, the two began to merge. Gurren's limbs enlarged and elongated, giving the mecha more human proportions. Gurren's body twisted until it was perfectly shaped and proportioned to accommodate Lagann atop it. A red helmet popped out of nowhere, flipped, and landed on Lagann's head.

"Behold the Gurren Lagann!" cried Simon.

The shades flashed in the light, and both sets of eyes glowed with a green malice.

"You are so fucked now."

"Let's see if it's really so!" chuckled Thymilph in glee. He hefted his halberd in both hands and pointed it at the red Gunman.

"Meet my Alkaid Glaive, human!"

Simon took the controls in both hands and slammed them forwards. Gurren Lagann tore its shades off with its right hand and jumped at the Byakou, swinging the triangular eyewear in a wide arc.

"You think that'll work, runt?" mocked Thymilph. He twirled his glaive. It met the shades with a clang. Gravity was against the Simon, and he fell back to the Dai-Gurren's deck.

"Still pathetic!" jeered Thymilph. "Come on! Show me some of what you gave me back in the control room!"

"Shut up and I will!" yelled Simon. The Gurren Lagann sprang to its feet and leapt again.

Thymilph blocked the shades strike with his glaive once more. But this time was different. Simon caught his shades on the staff once more, but this time, he followed up with a drill on the other arm. He threw his fist forward with a roar. Thymilph was caught off-guard for a moment, but quickly recovered, twisting the Byakou out of the way. The drill clipped a piece off of one of the shoulder pauldrons. The Byakou twisted again, releasing one hand to grab the Gurren Lagann by the face. It flipped in midair, dragging the Gurren Lagann all the way, and released, sending the red mecha slamming back into the deck again.

"Better this time," growled Thymilph. "Now come on! Let's see you actually get a hit in!"

"I busted one of your shoulder pauldrons!" pointed out Simon as the Gurren Lagann got to its feet once more.

"Oh, how impressive," sneered Thymilph. "Really, if you're going to be proud of so little as that, then I ought to just destroy you now!"

Simon jumped at Thymilph again. Thymilph batted him away with his glaive.

"This is getting kind of pointless."

The Gurren Lagann jumped again, and got a kick to the face for its trouble.

"Yawn."

The Gurren Lagann ran up the Dai-Gurren's main body, flipped, and spun into an axe kick from above. Thymilph didn't even bat an eye, simply shifting to the side. Simon tried to recover by reaching out to grab Thymilph's arm. Thymilph spun, sending Simon flying out into the wastelands.

"Ugh, this is just sad. I'm going to end you now."

The Gurren Lagann got up again.

"Really, I'm not sure why you even try. I'm better than you ever will be."  
The Byakou floated across the wasteland towards the Gurren Lagann. As it did so it descended, until it was making dust trails float up behind it. Eventually it extended its legs and fell to the ground completely, and began walking towards Simon.

"I mean, you're not even using your drills."

Simon was breathing hard, but now his breath caught. He hadn't . Why hadn't he used his drills more?

"Come on, human! Show me what you've got!"

Simon charged, screaming. His drills met only empty air. Thymilph kicked him down from behind.

"Come on!"

Simon grit his teeth. This was becoming irritating.

"Come on!"

The Byakou lifted up the Gurren Lagann and tossed it away. It hit the ground with a thud.

"Come ON!"

Simon wiped some sweat off his face. He had so far managed to avoid hitting anything with his head, but that could change. He had to talk to Leeron about getting restraints installed.

"COME ON COME ON COME ON COME ON!"

Thymilph punctuated each repetition with a blast from his Condemn Blaze. Simon blocked the first two with drills, but the last caught him straight in the chest. He was thrown back and landed on his back near one of the new lava streams. Simon grunted in increasing annoyance, frustration, and general anger.

"COME ON FILTHY HUMAN, DON'T BE A PRISSY LITTLE WUSS LIKE THAT KAMINA IDIOT!"

Something in Simon snapped.

The shades flew forwards, spinning. Thymilph parried them effortlessly with a spin of his lance. But when he looked again, Simon was nowhere to be found.

There was a rumble. Thymilph looked at his feet. Simon burst out, drills first. Thymilph barely dodged out of the way, the drills scoring a line down his Gunman's body and throwing him off balance. Simon kept going up, intercepting the shades in midair and retrieving them.

"Yes! This is good, human!" roared Thymilph as he regained his balance and brought his lance up.

Simon twisted in the air to avoid the Condemn Blaze attack and fell, spinning, to strike Thymilph with his shades. This was blocked by the lance, of course, but Thymilph was harder pressed to perform the block.

Simon twisted again, landing crouched with back to Thymilph. He spun, tossing his shades out into nowhere, then completed the spin and lashed out with a kick. Thymilph dodged, and tried to counter with a jab from the blazing-blue Alkaid Glaive, but was parried by Simon's drill. The drill smashed into the other pauldron, fragmenting it.

Thymilph's face was screwed up in concentration. He could not spare the mental strength to make some sort of comment. Simon was just too fast.

Suddenly, something hit him from behind. He lurched forwards as Simon skidded back. It was the shades; they had boomeranged right back around to hit him in the flight sphere, completely disabling his ability to fly.

"For the 'Raging Flame' you sure liked to fly a lot," grunted Simon simply. He took advantage of the situation, grabbing Thymilph's lance with both hands and attempting to wrest it away.

Thymilph wasn't completely unaware, however, and with a murmured "Shit!" he pulled on the controls. The Byakou once again grasped its weapon with both hands, but instead of pulling back, he attempted to turn it at Simon in order to unleash a Condemn Blaze. Simon wised up to this trick and pushed back, creating a kind of reverse tug-of-war between the two.

"You've gotten quite fast," grunted Thymilph, now able to spare a second's thought to speech.

Simon didn't respond.

"Silent treatment?" gloated Thymilph. "Are you so scared you can't even speak? Or are you-"

"Shut up," came Simon's murmured response.

"What?"

"I SAID I WAS SICK OF YOUR VOICE!" roared Simon. The green gauge rose once again. Gurren Lagann's hands twisted, and the haft of Thymilph's Alkaid Glaive snapped in half.

All Thymilph could give was a shocked "What?"

"I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU SHUT UP FOR GOOD, THAT'S WHAT!"

Simon launched the Byakou skyward with an uppercut. Thymilph rocked in his seat from the force of the blow. Simon jumped after. He rocketed right past, grabbing his shades out of the Byakou's body as he went.

"THIS IS FOR BRO!" he yelled.

He hit his apex and stopped, seeming to hang there. He took the shades in both hands. Green energy crackled down the mechanical fingers. Somehow, he pulled, and produced two pairs of shades.

"THIS IS FOR KILLING BRO!"

He tossed them at the Byakou. The shades spun, no more than dark circles against the sky. They hit the Byakou in the arms, and somehow, some way, they continued to spin to pierce the legs as well. The Byakou hung there, motionless, spread-eagled by the massive shades.

"SPECIAL! ATTACK! FINISHING! BLOW!"

Thymilph stared down at the ground below. Then, oddly enough, he smiled.

Simon produced one new drill. He lifted it above his head, and it elongated, turning into a gigantic needle, before widening out to become a drill greater than any he had made before.

Thymilph thought, briefly, of Adiane.

"GIGA! DRILL! BREEEEEEEEAAAAAAK!"

Physics woke up from its nap; and Simon fell.

As he fell, the drill only got larger. It spun, reaching a speed where the very air around it screamed as it was torn apart. From the Gurren Lagann's feet came a jet of green energy, and with it, Simon accelerated even further.

Thymilph chuckled a little, somewhat bitterly, somewhat joyfully.

Simon crashed straight through the Byakou as that chuckle became a full-bodied laugh.

He spun as he continued falling. He hit the ground on both feet, sending another quake through the area, setting off a fresh wave of volcanic eruptions. His drill thinned out again, then retracted entirely. His shades raced back to him, and he caught them in hand, merging them again, and replacing them on Gurren's face. He looked up just as the Byakou exploded, sending a great cloud of reds and blacks across the night sky, painting it in scarlet hues.

Simon stood for a moment as forlorn pieces of metal debris rained down.

And he laughed.

That was how the others found him. Sitting in his Gunman, laughing to himself, with a massive, eerie grin plastered on his face.

* * *

Rossiu sat at the edge of a massive hole in the ground. His legs hung out over the edge, swinging freely, without a care to his safety.

The Yoko M Tank trudged up. It sort of squatted down, and its cockpit opened, revealing its pilot. Yoko leapt out and walked over to the boy.

"Rossiu," she intoned softly. Rossiu pretended not to notice. She sat down next to him, her own legs swinging over the edge.

"It's late. The others have already returned. Why didn't you come back yet?"

Rossiu didn't answer.

Yoko took a moment to admire the scenery. The hole was a marvel, almost completely circular. The Beastmen were very efficient in their work. The hole still bore marks from the Dai-Gunzan's ascent from underground.

A red, fiery glow seeped up from below.

"I didn't have a Gunman," said Rossiu, quietly, hoarsely.

He stood and brushed his knees off. He turned, ponytail whipping behind him, and began the long walk back to camp.

Yoko let him go. She didn't bother offering him a ride. She knew it would be pointless.

* * *

"Thymilph is dead."

The pronouncement fell leadenly in the spacious audience chamber. It echoed once around the stone floors and stalactites before fading out to nothing.

In the darkened recesses of the chamber stood three individuals. One was tall and lithe, bearing the shapely figure of a woman. Behind her, a long, segmented tail twitched about menacingly. Another was just as tall and thin, but garbed in very large pieces of fabric mimicking the telltale feathers of a peacock. He radiated an aura of glamour and decadence. The last shadowed entity was short, much shorter than the others, and appeared rather round and more bestial in nature. He had a pipe in between clawed fingers, from which billowed a wisp of grey smoke.

"My Generals, this news is quite disturbing. Why do I not see more emotion from you?"

"I apologize, my Lord," said the squat one with a bow. "It would be unseemly to show such a spectacle in the presence of your Majesty." Guame the Immovable stood from his bow, took a drag on his pipe, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Personally, I'm more interested in the circumstances," stated the one with the peacock garments. "Obviously, there's a considerable threat here, and we should take steps to rectify it immediately." Cytomandra the Swift brushed back a lock of hair from his face, a sneer evident on his features.

"You show some wisdom, Cytomandra," said the man seated the throne at the centre of the room. A broad, heavily muscled arm liberated itself from the clutches of one of his consorts and raised itself, pointing.

"Allow the good Captain to enter."

A door opened in the seamless walls of the throne room. Light briefly flooded in, and a lone Beastman with an eye patch entered. He stood at attention.

"Captain Viral, reporting as requested, sirs and Ma'am."

"_Former_ Captain, incompetent fool," spat the last of the Generals. Adiane the Elegant cast an eye over her lover's former second in command. Her gaze was filled with cold, barely-restrained rage.

"Nonetheless," grunted Guame. "Let him get on with his report."

"Pah! Screw the report," interjected Adiane before Viral could start. "I don't need this fool's account! I saw his Gunman's video files! The coward ran away while his commanding officer was in danger!"

All eyes turned to Viral. He sweated under their gaze.

"Unfortunately, yes," intoned the Spiral King, Lordgenome, from his place on the throne. "But he is currently the only one here with firsthand experience fighting the humans."

"Experience in losing!" jeered Adiane.

"Even Thymilph lost. Do you not recall that he is dead?"

Adiane was silent.

"It is doubtful that his contribution would have changed the outcome of the battle," continued Lordgenome. "And regardless, he states he fled after his superior began firing on his own men. Under those circumstances, his insubordination is overlooked."

Viral breathed a small sigh of relief before immediately suppressing it in fear of his overlords.

"Therefore, I will allow him to go with whichever one of you plans to take care of the humans."

There was silence once more. Then Adiane spoke up:

"Give me this chance, my Lord."

"Very well. You may go."

There was a rushing sound, and water enveloped the female General. Then, she was gone, but not before flashing a grim smile at Viral. The former captain shivered and was ushered out by a Beastman servant.

"And what of you two?" queried Lordgenome, turning his gaze to his remaining two Generals.

"Adiane's really the best to handle them," said Cytomandra with a shrug. "If they're planning to come here, then they'll invariably have to cross her territory."

"Likewise," grunted Guame. "I'd rather not contemplate the idea of moving my forces over the sea to intercept the humans. Neither water nor air is my strong point, you'll recall."

"Your answers are sufficient. You may both go."

There was a rushing sound again, and a strange wind blew through the room. It seemed to wrap around Cytomandra, and then he, too, disappeared.

Guame, however, stuck around a while longer.

"My Liege-" he began.

"You are worried about the humans' weapons?" interrupted Lordgenome.

"You read my mind. It appears the humans are in possession of a miniature Gunman, which has the ability to combine with other machines. Could it be..."

"Indeed," muttered Lordgenome. "It appears to be so."

"Then does Adiane even have a chance?"

"You dare question my decision?"

"No, my Lord," said Guame, bowing once more in deference. "I'd simply like to hear your plans."

"Adiane's probability of success is highly dependant on how advanced the humans have gotten with their technology," stated Lordgenome. "If they have not yet mastered it, then yes, Adiane may very well best them. But if they have unlocked its full potential..."

Here his voice dropped even lower than was normal.

"...then neither she, nor you, nor Cytomandra, has a chance."

"Such cheering news," said Guame sarcastically.

Then there was a rumble, and the smell of freshly turned dirt. And the final member of the Four Generals disappeared.

* * *

The small travelling party trudged tiredly across the wastelands.

It had been a hard journey. They had had a motorized vehicle when they had left, but it had broken down along the way. Now they were forced to walk to progress, going to sleep each night with aching legs and knowing that, come the next night, they would hurt even more. Thankfully, their quarry had not moved in a week or so, making it somewhat possible to catch up. Otherwise, they would have long been left in the dust.

But in the end it was worth it. It was all worth it as they crested a hill one day to regard the Dai-Gurren standing proudly on the horizon.

From there it wasn't tough to make radio contact. The entire crew was assembled to meet them as they arrived, tired, hungry, but happy all the same.

Tetsukan drew back his hood, his glasses shining against the bright midday sun. He smiled as he recognized several familiar faces.

"Tetsukan! Gosh, I never expected to see you again!" called Leeron as he exited the Dai-Gurren. Wiping his hands off on a rag, Leeron descended the ramp to meet his one-time student and former protégé.

"Good grief, Leeron!" replied the short, bespectacled young man with short black hair. "You sound like you expected one of us to die!"

"'Course I did! You and your screwy inventions! I thought you'd blow something up!"

"You old hypocrite!"

Leeron and Tetsukan embraced amicably. Kittan leaned over and whispered in Yoko's ear.

"Um, just how old _is_ Leeron anyway?"  
"Hell if I know," she replied.

"So who did you bring along with you?" said Leeron, rubbing his hands with an eerie smile. "I'm always up for some fresh meat!"

"Ya won't be getting any from me," said a tall figure. She threw back the hood of her coat and gazed around at the assembly. She had a cigarette in her mouth and square glasses on her nose, and her auburn hair bounced slightly.

"Leitte?" gasped Iraak. "Is that you?"

"'S there a problem with me?" replied Leitte.

"No, it's just...wow, you've grown."

"We're the same age! We grew up together, for goodness' sake!"

"Really? I don't remember seeing you since I was five..."

"Hee hee hee!" chuckled the last traveller. "Let's see these sparks fly!"

He threw back his hood to reveal...a very oddly proportioned face. All members assembled jumped in shock at the sheer strangeness of his features.

"I always forget..." muttered Yoko. "Scares me every time."

"Hey hey hey!" half-shouted Attenborough. "Where're all the guns at! Let's see the big guns!"  
"Good grief, man, calm down," muttered Tetsukan.

"The 'big guns' aren't ready yet," said Leeron smoothly. "But if you go on the deck you can take a look at them."

Attenborough was gone in a flash. In a second he had rushed up the ramp, zoomed through the Dai-Gurren's corridors, and was busy admiring the impressive deck cannons.

"That's Attenborough for you," sighed Tetsukan. "Good luck getting him to do anything other than firing those cannons..."

"Don't worry, they won't be ready for a while," stated Leeron.

"Hey, I'm gonna have to do something similar and ask where your engines are at," grunted Leitte. "A baby like this is gonna have some real big ones on her, and I can't wait to get a look."

"Go ahead," said Leeron. "In fact, everyone head in. Me 'n Tetsukan are going to stay out a bit and talk."

Everyone filed in, talking amongst themselves. Makken in particular was strangely talkative, mostly with Leitte. Soon Tetsukan and Leeron were alone on the wastes.

"Can I say again how good it is to see you?" said Tetsukan warmly. "We've been walking for days!"

"Oh really?" said Leeron questioningly. "I didn't think you'd be stupid enough not to bring along a vehicle of some sort."

"Oh, we had one," said Tetsukan dryly. "Then Attenborough crashed it."

"Nothing salvageable, I presume?"

"You know that's Attenborough's specialty."

The two chuckled softly at their comrade's antics.

"But seriously," said Tetsukan suddenly. "If you hadn't stopped for that week or so, we'd have been left in the dust! What were you doing?"

"Oh, repairs mostly," said Leeron. "Simon banged it up quite a bit before taking it. But we've also been busy painting!"

Tetsukan's face fell as he looked up at the scarlet red behemoth.

"Red again? I was really hoping you'd say it was like that when you got it..."

"Three times! I'm telling you!"

"Nonono! How many times have _I_ told _you_, the freaking paint job doesn't do anything! All red does is make you a very easily-spotted target!"

"Well, it was black when we got it!"

Tetsukan pondered this a moment.

"I guess red's better than black, but still!"

"Well, it's not like we want to run away and hide," said Leeron.

Tetsukan sighed.

"That's right, that's how you guys do things. Probably just march into enemy territory without a thought..."

He perked up slightly.

"Which reminds me. We extracted some information from the prisoner!"

"We already have our target marked," said Leeron mockingly. "Accessed the recall function in the warship."

"But did you get a map?"

Leeron shook his head.

Tetsukan reached in his pocket and pulled out a small scroll of paper. He unrolled it and flipped it to show Leeron. It was badly hand-drawn, but many details were clearly labelled.

"...The ocean," breathed Leeron as he perused the crude map.

"Yup. You'll have to cross the ocean. There's no other way to get there. So you'd better start thinking about making some aquatic mods to that warship there."

"I'd have been able to figure something out..." mused Leeron.

"But now you'll have extra time! Aren't you glad we came along?"

Leeron laughed suddenly, surprising Tetsukan.

"I'd be happy just to see you!" said Leeron. "Now come on, let's get you fed! You're at least ten percent less chubby than when I last saw you!"

And the pair, student and master, entered the Dai-Gurren with thoughts of food and drink on their mind.

For the moment, it didn't matter what the future might hold. For the moment, everything seemed all right, and they could overcome any obstacle, no matter how dangerous.

Even the ocean, wide as the sky is vast.


	9. Farewell

**I'm sorry to say, but this story is now on hiatus indefinitely; or, to be more honest, it's dead.**

**I've posted reasons, explanations, and so forth in the first chapter, so go there if you need anything else. Here, I have nothing else to do but thank you all for following, reviewing, encouraging, and critiquing (although not enough of you did the last). Some day, perhaps, I'll give it another go; I'll review everything, reread what I have written, and put it back together better, clearer, and smoother.**

**But for now, I'll say my farewells.  
**

**Thank you.**


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